Annabelle Louise
by RoseMarauder
Summary: Different views on the story we all thought we knew. You'll find out not everything is as it seems... Harry Potter has a sister one year older than him. Begins in the Order of the Phoenix. She is in her sixth year and Harry is in his fifth.
1. Prologue

**This story is written if Harry Potter had an older sister and is told from her POV. This story takes place in Harry's fifth year, (OOTP)**

**Prologue**

I like to be different. Go against the status quo. My stubbornness is probably what led me to where I am today. I hate when people just assume things about people they don't know.

"All the bad witches and wizards come from Slytherin."

Really? I'm sorry, I forgot, what house was Peter Pettigrew in? The only thing I remember about him is that he betrayed my parents and he's the reason Harry and I are orphans and had to live with our terrible Muggle relatives.

"Red hair, hand-me-down clothes? You must be a Weasley."

Oh really? Just because I inherited my mother's gorgeous scarlet locks and have to wear hand-me-downs sometimes because my Muggle relatives are too cheap to buy me new clothes, I'm automatically a Weasley? As much as I love the Weasleys and are practically part of their family, I'm a Potter and proud.

"Both your parents were in Gryffindor; I bet you'll be sorted in there, too."

As fantastic as Gryffindors are, I'm still holding a grudge against a certain rat-like man that screwed up my life when I was only a toddler. I want nothing to do with him or the House he was sorted into.

So I asked the Sorting Hat to put me, Annabelle Louise Potter, into

Slytherin.

The Sorting Hat was happy to accede.

I came to discover many things about myself in my first five years at

Hogwarts. One was that I was one of the only half-bloods in my house. This wouldn't be a big deal in any of the other houses, but in Slytherin I was practically an alien. Since I was a half-blood, I was off limits to practically all of the purebloods. However, Most of the Slytherin boys had the whole "pureblood rebel" thing going on, so they were constantly trying to get me to go out with them. Most of the Slytherins knew that their parents would set up an arranged marriage with another Pureblood anyways, so the boys figured they would have a little fun with halfbloods in school now because they knew they would never end up with them later. As annoying as these stuck-up prats can be, it was both a good and bad thing. It was good because they would practically do anything I asked them to do, but it was bad because, not to be conceited, the other Slytherin girls were jealous. They tried everything they could think of to embarrass me or make me look foolish. With all the Slytherin girls out to get me, it was no surprise that I would have to find friendship in a different house if I didn't want to be lonely. With my good work ethics, high grades and intelligence, I naturally became best friends with a Ravenclaw girl in my grade. Luckily for me, Ravenclaw shared most of their classes with Slytherins, so I almost never had to put up with all the invidious Slytherin girls on my own.

The start of my sixth year was quite eventful.

Double Potions in the morning was always something to look forward to. Being a Slytherin, potions class was by far the best part of the day. Professor Snape openly favored us in class and always helped us if we got stuck. He was actually quite funny when his hateful remarks weren't directed at you. Even though he favored all the Slytherins, he seemed to be particularly keen on favoring me. Of course it was all subtle and probably only I would notice, but it was definitely there. I first thought it may be that it was because I was one of the only half-bloods in Slytherin just like he was, but lately I've been thinking there may be something else to it. My suspicion all started in that Double Potions class at the beginning of my sixth year.


	2. Chapter 1

"Hey, Belle, can I use some of your Valerian Roots?" whispered my best friend/lab partner

"Sorry, Cho, I'm all out. I don't even have enough for my own potion," I discreetly muttered back.

"Drat. Hey, if you cut up my sopoporous beans, I'll grab some Valerian roots for you in the Potions cabinet, alright?" whispered Cho from the corner of her mouth.

"Deal," I breathed back.

As Cho walked off to get the ingredients, I got started on getting the juice out of the sopoporous beans. I was just starting on the first bean when I felt someone's presence behind me. I glanced over my shoulder wondering what Slytherin was trying to copy my work when I came face-to-face with the last Slytherin I predicted of cheating.

"Professor Snape," I spoke quietly. "Is there anything wrong with my potion?"

"Miss Potter, what on Earth are you doing?"

I looked down at my workstation. I saw my notes for the potion, neat and orderly. I saw my ingredients, placed in small, precise piles. I saw my cauldron, scrubbed clean and ready for today's assignment. I looked back up at my professor, confusion written on my face.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean, sir."

He rolled his eyes and grabbed my knife from my hand.

"Miss Potter, why would you cut a sopoporous bean to get the juice from it?" He placed a bean in the middle of my workstation and placed the knife sideways on top. "Why not crush the bean with the side of the blade," his fingertips pressed down on the flat side of the blade, "until all the juice has escaped?" I looked down at my workstation and, just like Professor Snape said, a pool of sopoporous bean juice had appeared.

"I never thought of that, sir. Thank you."

He acknowledged my comment by nodding his head once.

"I would hope, Miss Potter, that you soon learn that unlike other subjects, potions are not all in black and white. If one is creative enough, much more accurate techniques could be used. I assume that you will keep this lesson in mind when taking your NEWTs next year," Snape turned on his heel, robes billowing behind him as he went off to scold a Slytherin boy for having an untidy workstation.

"I'm back," Cho grunted as she dropped the Valerian roots on our table. "Sorry it took so long, Blaise Zabini decided that I would make a lovely date to ball and was trying to convince me to go with him."

I looked back at Cho, shocked that Blaise asked her to the Yule Ball. It was only this morning the Dumbledore mentioned that because of the success of last year's, Hogwarts would have another Yule Ball. Since last year's ball encouraged making friends from different schools, and this year's ball would only have our one school, Dumbledore was encouraging us to make friends with people in different Houses. Actually, he wasn't encouraging it, he was requiring it. You had to bring a date that belonged to different House to be let into the ball.

Apparently, Blaise thought that the pretty Ravenclaw would be his ticket into the dance.

"Did you say yes?"

Cho almost sliced off her finger in shock.

"Did I say YES? Are you joking? After he was seen snogging Lavender Brown in a broom cupboard yesterday? Of course I said no! What would Matthew think of me if I already had a date the day the Yule Ball was announced? We already promised each other we would go with a friend."

Matthew was a 7th year Ravenclaw boy Cho was currently dating. Since

Dumbledore's rule restricted them to go to the dance together, they would have to find a friend to go with instead.

"Well," I started. "Who ARE you planning on going with?"

"Umm..." Cho looked off into the distance, clearly deep in thought. "Considering most of my guy- friends are in Ravenclaw, I guess I'm going to have to meet someone new. Maybe a Hufflepuff, I hear they're quite friendly. Or perhaps I could..." Cho continued on, oblivious to the fact that I was too busy concentrating on my sopoporous beans to listen to her drone on and on about all the suitable boys.

A few minutes later, I heard the crack of a knife slamming down on a cutting board. My head snapped up to see a sopoporous bean shooting through the air, obviously the result of someone trying to cut through its hard, slippery shell. The sopoporous bean flew over the classroom like a bullet, heading straight for Cho, who was currently still listing her possible dates.

My knife cut through the air and deflected the bean away from Cho, sending it in the opposite direction. I watched in amusement and terror as the bean ricocheted off my knife and slammed into the back of Blaise Zabini's head.

The room grew silent as Zabini turned around and saw my guilty expression. All the eyes in the room stared at me in surprise.

"Miss Potter," Professor Snape said as he strode to the front of the room. "See me after class."


	3. Chapter 2

"Professor," I said nervously while walking to the front of the room after the class cleared into the hall. "You said you wanted to see me after class?"

"So I did," Professor Snape muttered while glancing up from grading essays to make sure the classroom was empty. "Miss Potter, is there a particular reason to why you look so scared?"

"Um, well," I started. "I have never gotten a detention before and I'm quite upset to ruin my clean record and I didn't even mean to hit Blaise, it was an accident-"

"Honestly, Miss Potter? Is that what you think this meeting is about, a detention? For anything I should be rewarding points to you for hitting Mr. Zabini in the head with a sopoporous bean, it may cause him to pay attention in class more."

Confusion flashed across my face. If I wasn't here for a detention, then what was I here for? I started to ask the reason for this meeting when Snape cut me off.

"Unfortunately, Miss Potter, I am once again short a player for the Slytherin Quidditch team. With the match versus Gryffindor tomorrow you can clearly see my predicament. This is where you come in."

"Professor, do you want me to find you another player? I don't think I will be able to in less than 24 hours! Tryouts will need to be held and practices and possibly-"

"Miss Potter! If you will let me finish and use your brain I'm quite sure you will be able to see the answer to this problem! As much as an arrogant fool your father was," Snape said with a glare, "he was quite good at Quidditch. Your brother clearly picked up his athletic genes, and although you resemble more of your mother," he said eyeing me over, "I have no doubt you also have your father's ability to fly. I would greatly appreciate if you play as one of the Slytherin beaters in tomorrow's game."

To say the least, I was shocked. This meeting started with me thinking I was in trouble, and then I thought that I had to find Snape a Quidditch player, but now I have to BE a Quidditch player? Too many emotions were running through my head at full speed and it took a moment for me to process everything. I guess now my brother won't get all the spotlight…

"Yes, sir, I'd be happy to play on the team." I replied once I was able to make a coherent sentence.

"Good," Snape replied dully. "I assume you own a broom?"

"Well, sir, I actually don't," I glumly admitted. "With me living with muggles and not being on the Quidditch team I would never have anytime to fly one so I never invested in one."

"I see," said Snape thoughtfully. "Well, I guess I will just have to order you one. I hope the Firebolt 2000 would be suitable?"

"But, sir!" I practically shouted. "That's the newest broom out! There's no way

I can afford it!"

"Then just consider it as a welcome-to-the-team gift from the house of Slytherin," he stated slyly.

"Professor, I couldn't, really, that's too kind..." I started to object.

"No matter, it's done. Now hurry along to your next class and don't disappoint me." Snape said while filling out a broom order form.

"Don't worry, sir, I won't!" I called over my shoulder as I jogged out of his class, eager to get to Charms. I rounded a corner full-speed and unfortunately smashed into the three people that would keep me from getting to Charms.


	4. Chapter 3

"Would you watch where you're going?" I shouted as I scrambled to pick up the books I've dropped. "You really could have- oh, it's you guys."

"Come on now, is that the greeting I get from my only sister?" Harry teased as he bent down to grab my quills.

"Yeah, and what about us?" asked the boy to Harry's left.

"Is that how you greet your favorite redheaded twins?" questioned the boy on Harry's right.

"Sorry guys I was just in a rush to charms, that's all," I said in a hurry, scooping up my remaining books and stuffing them into my bag.

"Well since class already started ten minutes ago..." George said while throwing his arm over my shoulder.

"And you're already late..." Fred said innocently while also throwing his arm around me.

"What could a few more minutes hurt, hmm?" finished George while walking me in the opposite direction of charms.

"Well, actually, it WOULD hurt my grade to miss this class," I firmly said to the twins while throwing their arms off me. "I should ask why you three aren't in class and give you detention," I stated matter-of-factly, flashing my prefect badge in their direction.

"Aww, come on Belle, we have Quidditch practice tonight!" Harry whined.

"Yeah, Belle, and we're you're faaavorite red-headed twinnnns!" Fred and George said together, drawing out the words "favorite" and "twins" for effect.

"Okay, okay, I'll let it slide, but ONLY this time. Now get to class," I said kindly while turning around to head to Charms.

"Yes, ma'am!" George said with a salute in my direction.

"Annabelle!" Harry called down the hall. "I need to talk to you later! When can we meet?"

"How bout we meet tomorrow at 11?" I called back with a smirk. "On the

Quidditch pitch?"

Harry's jaw dropped so low I swear it came dislocated.

"You mean to tell me..." Harry said with disbelief in his voice.

"That YOU..." Fred started.

"Annabelle Louise Potter, Slytherin princess and sister of Harry James

Potter..." George said with eyes the size of saucers.

"Are going to play Quidditch?" Harry finished.

"That's right, baby brother!" I practically shouted from down the hall. "And you twins better watch out, there's a new Beater in town!" I rounded the corner and giggled at the shocked looks that were on their faces. Oh, this was going to be fun!

At precisely 10:59, I walked out of the Slytherin locker room and onto the Quidditch pitch. We lined up in our positions. The other beater and I stood next to Fred and George.

"Well, let's make it a fair game," Fred said to me with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah, don't worry, Belle," George said with a wink. "I'll take it easy on you."

Madam Hooch blew her whistle and we kicked off into the air. The game was going smoothly; only two penalties so far and they were pretty minor. Lee Jordan was of course giving his opinion on them all.

"...and with that sneaky move by the Slytherin chaser, it's a wonder Ronald Weasley saved the quaffle.."

I continue to listen to Lee's commentary while flying around looking for bludgers. When Lee's voice picked up enthusiasm, I snapped my head around looking for the seekers.

"...this could be it folks! It looks like Draco Malfoy spotted the snitch! I'm not quite sure how he got such a lead on Harry Potter but it looks like there's no stopping the Slytherin seeker! Oh, I stand corrected, it looks like Fred Weasley just got a hold of a nasty bludger and sent it Malfoy's way.."

I raced towards Malfoy, my right arm outstretched with my bat, hoping to deflect the bludger. I reached him in no time, thanks to my new broom. I swung my bat, sending the bludger-and unfortunately also my bat- behind me, straight towards Harry who was hot on our tails. He dodged the bludger and my bat at the last second, sending him off Draco's path.

"...it looks like Annabelle Potter is giving her little brother a lesson in Quidditch, folks!" Lee shouted into the crowd. "Draco Malfoy could end it! That is, of course, if George Weasley's bludger doesn't end him first!"

I turned around to see George's bludger sailing straight towards Malfoy and me. I could see the snitch barely in Draco's outstretched hand. The bludger was practically on us by the time I jumped off my broom, straight towards Draco's right side, the side the bludger was heading towards. I felt the impact of a truck in my head, a loud cheer, gravity, strong arms and then blackness.


	5. Chapter 4

My brother and I have many things in common, one of them being that we both get nightmares. I'm not talking about your common dreams where you forget to wear pants to school. Oh, no. I'm talking about Death Eaters and Voldemort himself tracking you down and murdering you. Anyways, I got a nightmare, and it was a biggie. It started with Harry, my mom, my dad and I having a picnic in a field. Suddenly, Voldemort showed up and started to duel with my dad. A flash of green light shot out of Voldemort's wand and hit my dead square in the chest. My dad's lifeless body flopped to the ground. Voldemort then turned towards Harry and I. My mother dove in front of us, shielding us from the Dark Lord's wrath. He slaughtered her in front of our eyes. The field rapidly changed to a Quidditch pitch and Harry and I were flying on brooms being chased by Voldemort. He kept hurling bludgers at Harry and me and we were having trouble dodging them. Voldemort shot one straight and Harry and I couldn't just watch helplessly as my brother got drilled by a speeding bullet, could I? I dived off the broom and got whacked by the bludger. I heard Harry scream as I spun to the ground like a falling plane.

I jerked awake and slammed my head into a hard object.

"Merlin's beard," I heard the object mutter under his breath. I watched the black-haired male jump off my bed and turn his back to me, pressing his hands to his forehead. I sighed in relief.

"Dad," I said, acknowledging the person I just hit. "I had the worst dream! I was…" My sentence drifted off as I realized there were three sets of eyes gaping at me intently. The black-haired man turned to face me and I stared into the eyes of my mother.

"H-Harry?" I whispered. My nightmare came crashing back into my head, reality hitting me straight in the face like a speeding bludger.

"Belle?" Harry questioned. "You must've hit you're head pretty hard… Mum and Dad have been dead for fourteen years now… Do you remember what happened in the Quidditch game today?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember now," I responded. "I just forgot for a moment. Well, actually, I WOULD like to know how the match ended. And why I'm in the hospital wing...?" I looked questioningly at the other three people in the room, hoping for answers to my questions.

"Well," Fred started, "you lost your bat in the middle of the game by throwing it at Harry. Then Georgie over here sent a rocket-like bludger straight at Malfoy, who was practically on top of the snitch. You, being the true Gryffindor you are…" (I glared at him at this comment) "…dived in front of Malfoy, protecting him from the bludger and allowing him to capture the snitch and win the game," Fred said glumly with a backwards glance at Harry.

"Oh," I said in thought. "But then what hap-"

"Ah, I was getting there," Fred said, briefly looking at George and then back at me. "My superhero twin, George, immediately felt regret when he saw you take the blow that was intended for Malfoy. He raced over at the speed of light to the damsel in distress and caught you before you hit the ground." Fred finished smugly, smirking at his brother. "I've never seen him fly so fast in his life!"

"It wasn't _that_ fast!" George protested, a blush creeping up his cheeks. "I simply wanted to-"

"George," Fred cut in, "you crossed a full Quidditch pitch in less than three seconds. That's gotta be a world record or something."

I turned my gaze towards George who was still glaring at his twin.

"Thank you for saving me," I said with a smile. "I'm sure my injuries would have been much worse had you not caught me." I shifted my eyes to those of the fourth person in the room. "How bad _are_ the injuries, exactly?"

"Well, you were hit in your head," Cho stated calmly, "Madam pomfrey fixed most of the internal injuries but since Quidditch is a magical game not all of the external injuries could be fixed right away. Some will have to heal the Muggle way: over time."

"Oh, that's much better than I thought it would be. So, which injury will have to be healed over time?" I asked Cho. When she didn't answer right away my gaze quickly rotated to the boys' faces, searching for some clue to my external injury.

"Umm…" Harry started, "well, here…" Harry said while handing me a mirror, not looking me straight in the eye.

I hurriedly grabbed the hand mirror and stared at my reflection.

"Oh, bloody hell…"

Broken noses I can handle. Fat lips are not my ideal injury, but I can deal. I can not, however, deal with a huge, swelling, purple and green black eye. Of course the one injury I get has to be the most obnoxious and embarrassing wound.

"OH MERLIN, CHO! How am I supposed to get a date to the Yule Ball with this disgusting lump on my eye?" I whined to my best friend.

"Don't worry, Belle," Cho said reassuringly, "we will figure something out!"

"I doubt it," I muttered solemnly to myself. "When can I get out of this awful Hospital Wing anyways?"

"Madam Pomfrey said right after you woke up, so you can leave anytime now," George answered. "Want me to walk you to your common room?"

"That would be great," I smiled. "Thanks, George!"

"Well, Fred and I are going to head off to the tower," Harry said to George. "Meet you up there later? Oh, and Annabelle?" Harry shifted his eyes towards mine, "I still need to discuss some things with you, so sit with me at dinner tomorrow?"

I nodded my head. "Sure, Harry, see you then. Bye, Cho! See you in Potions tomorrow."

Cho, Harry and Fred exited the Hospital Room, Harry and Fred turned left towards the Gryffindor common room and Cho turned right towards Ravenclaw's.

"Well, my lady," George said with a bow, extending his elbow in my direction. "Please allow me to escort you to the dungeons."

I rolled my eyes and slipped my hand into the crook of his arm playfully swat his shoulder. "Honestly, George, you're so full of yourself."

About halfway to the common room, we heard someone shout out from behind us.

"Oi! Annabelle! Slow down!" George and I turned to see Draco running down the hall to catch up with us. George's face began to turn red, his anger and hatred towards Draco clearly visible.

"Why are you walking with Weasel? He should be off with his fellow dunderheads in Gryffindork tower," Draco sneered at George.

"George," I said glaring at Draco, "was just escorting me from the hospital wing to the common room."

"Well, Weasel, I'll take it from here," Draco said while pulling me from George's grasp and throwing his arm around me. "Get lost, ginger." Draco started walking me towards the Slytherin common room and I barely had time to look over my shoulder to see George kick a statue before Draco whisked me around the corner.

"Now, Belle, you know how I feel about Gryffindors," Draco said warningly to me. "As your Quidditch captain, I advise you to steer clear of the gingers or practice will be hell for you," Draco teased.

"Well no matter who I hang out with, I am still appalled you have yet to thank me for saving your bloody arse in the game!" I said in a huff.

"Yeah, about that," Draco started, "I really am thankful you did that. However, you saved my life, I have to save yours right? Well life-or-death situations rarely appear at school, unless you're the bloody 'Chosen One,' so now I owe you a favor," Draco said with a smirk. "Anything you got in mind?" Draco said suggestively.

"Not at the moment," I said while watching the grin shrink from his face. "I will keep you updated though. It will probably be a big favor, considering I now have this bloody black eye because of you!"

"Alright well let me know when you come up with what I have to do," Draco said while entering the common room. He immediately left my side to hang out with his two dumb friends, Crabbe and Goyle.

I inwardly smiled to myself. Draco Malfoy in my debt could be a very useful thing indeed.


	6. Chapter 5

"Annabelle," Cho whispered to me during Potions the next morning. "I came up with a solution to your date problem."

I almost dropped all of the boomslang skin into my cauldron from excitement. Thankfully, I did not because if I did drop the whole skin into my cauldron, an explosion would have occurred. I apologetically smiled to the people next to us and looked back hopefully at Cho.

"Well?"

Cho sighed. "Sadly, my plan was a complete failure in more ways than one."

_Drat._ I was really hoping on Cho to find me a date. "So what was your plan anyways? Who were you going to set me up with?"

Cho started to slice her boomslang skin. "Matthew," she said simply with no further explanation.

I stared at her for a few seconds before my brain was able to function what she just said. "MATTHEW? As in your boyfriend? Why would you-"

"Ex," Cho cut in. "He is now my ex-boyfriend."

"Wait, what? When did this happen? And why? You guys seemed fine the other day…" I couldn't believe it. _Cho and Matthew broke up? They were so cute together…_

"Well, you know that we couldn't go to the ball together because we're in the same house, right?" Cho continued to work on her Polyjuice Potion while she talked. "So I came up with the idea that you could go with him because I could trust you to not pull a move on him or anything you know?" I nodded; this was actually quite wise of Cho. Bloody Ravenclaws were always the logical ones.

"So what went wrong with your plan? Why did you guys break up?" I wasn't quite getting how this could lead to the break up of a strong relationship.

"Well, he wouldn't go with you, not even as friends. He said –and I quote- 'I'm not taking Annabelle just so I can get laughed at for having a date with a huge welt on her forehead. Talk to me when that bruise of hers clears up, and then maybe I will consider taking her.'" Cho was now shredding the boomslang skin so hard I thought she was going to cut through to the counter.

"Oh," I whispered. _Were people really that horrified by my black eye?_

"So," Cho said firmly, "I punched him in the face and dumped his sorry arse." Cho smirked. "Now let's see how well he does finding a date with a black eye of his own."

I was speechless. _Cho would do that for me? She would give up her boyfriend just to defend me?_ I tackled her with a hug.

"OH MERLIN CHO YOU ARE THE BEST I-"

"Ahem," a throat cleared behind me and Cho.

I turned around to see the unamused face of Professor Snape.

"If you two are finished, I would greatly appreciate you returning to your unfinished potions," Snape said to us before continuing on to the next work station.

Cho and I quickly went back to work. After the joy of having such a great friend wore off, guilt started to set in.

"Cho," I started. "If there is anything I can do to show my gratification, and I mean anything, please let me because-"

"Find me a date," Cho stated firmly. "Find me a date that is better that Matthew so I can show him that I'm much better off without him. Make sure he is good looking and popular," Cho said while putting a status charm onto her potion. Professor Snape signaled for the dismissal of class and Cho rushed towards the door.

"I'm in a rush so I will see you later! Try not to disappoint me!"

Dinner came and I still had no idea who I was going to set Cho up with, let alone who I was going to go to the ball with. I found Harry in the crowd and he motioned him to sit next to him near the end of Gryffindor table. I noticed he sat away from Ron and Hermione; he clearly wanted to keep this conversation private.

"Hey, Belle," Harry greeted me warmly. "Any luck finding a Yule Ball date?"

"No," I said while sitting down next to him. "How about you?"

"Nothing yet," Harry said while scooping mashed potatoes onto his plate. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Um, Harry," I said while looking curiously at him. "No offense, but I would rather go alone than go to the ball with my little brother…"

"Oh Merlin, Annabelle!" Harry looked disgusted. "That was not what I meant! I just wanted to know if you could help me find a date!"

"Thank the stars," I said, relief showing in my voice.

"So, any ideas for possible candidates? People aren't to fond of me lately because of the whole Cedric thing, you know? Most of the girls in the other houses don't really believe my side of the story…" Harry trailed off his sentence, embarrassed and frustrated.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Most boys from other Houses aren't fond of Slytherin girls either." Harry nodded in agreement. "But don't worry little brother, I promise I'll think of something! How about you find me a date and I'll find you one?" I asked Harry.

"Done!" Harry agreed enthusiastically. Suddenly Harry's face dropped. "Belle?" he questioned.

"What is it, Harry?" I asked concerned.

"Is it possible for you to also find a date for Hermione? Ron and I are her only male friends really and I don't want her to be left out at the ball and-"

"It's ok, I understand." I cut in. "I'll find a date for Hermione."

Harry's face broke into a huge grin. "Thanks, Sis! Ron already has a date so don't worry about him. Let's make this interesting, shall we? When I find you a date and you find my date and Hermione's date, keep it a secret until the night of the ball. We can all meet up in the North Tower before the ball begins and that will be when we meet our dates!"

I smiled. "Sure, Harry, that sounds like fun. But why did you come up with that arrangement? Afraid that you can't find a date suitable enough for me and I would back out of the deal?"

Harry smirked. "Oh, finding your date will be no problem. The real reason is that I don't want Hermione to back out if she doesn't like who you picked for her date!"

"Fair enough, but I have Qudditch practice soon so I'll see you later!" I said while rising from my seat. Harry waved goodbye and I exited the Great Hall.

As I walked to the Slytherin locker rooms, I thought about the dates I needed to set up. Finding Harry's date would be easy; he was the bloody Chosen One for Merlin's sake! You would think that the Gryffindor that took on the Dark Lord as a baby would have the guts to ask a girl to the ball, but no!

Hermione's date, on the other hand, would be a bit more difficult. As pretty as she was, most boys were intimidated my her brains. I would really have to work hard to find a date for her that could at least hold up an intelligent conversation.

And then there was Cho. The beautiful girl that went through boys as fast as I went through parchment. Although, Matthew _was _the first boyfriend she kept for over two months. To her, their breakup was probably second on the list of worst ends to a relationship, (Cedric dying being number one on that list). It would be hard to find her a date that was not only someone she has not dated before but also someone better than Matthew, the 7th year intelligent hottie.

I was just entering the locker room when I bumped into someone.

"Sorry!" I apologized as I stumbled backwards.

"It's alright, Belle! You probably hurt yourself more than you hurt me!" Draco said while helping me regain my balance.

That's when it hit me. I smiled so wide from my realization that Draco started to look concerned.

"Merlin, Belle, that mischievous grin can't be good..."

"Well, Draco," I smirked. "You still owe me that favor and I just figured out what you're going to do."


	7. Chapter 6

"Hey, Belle, where's your eyeshadow?" Cho asked from across the bedroom I shared with Daphne Greengrass.

"It's in my makeup bag on the shelf over there," I answered Cho.

Today was the day of the Yule Ball. Daphne was in her younger sister's room getting ready for the dance so Cho and I had my room to ourselves. The dance started in 30 minutes and we still had to go to the North Tower to meet our dates. Speaking of which...

"Don't forget we have to meet Draco in the common room in five minutes before we head to the tower," I said to Cho while applying last-minute touches to my make-up.

I roped Draco into this whole "mysterious date" thing as the favor he owed me.

"So you're really not going to tell me who my date is?" Cho asked while spreading silver eye shadow on her eyelid.

"Nope," I answered with a smirk. "You'll find out soon enough when we go to the North Tower. If I have to wait to find out who my date is, so will you."

Cho sighed. "Fine, but he better be cute."

Five minutes later, Cho and I headed down the dormitory stairs that led to the common room. Halfway down the stairs, we heard a wolf whistle from one of the boys.

"Hey, Belle," Theodore Nott called from across the common room. "You better save one dance for me, cutie!"

My face shrunk up in disgust. _Honestly, of all the boys that could like me, it had to be the selfish and arrogant type._

"Don't count on it, Nott," Draco called back to Theo as he walked to meet us at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ladies," Draco said while nodding his head politely towards Cho and me. "Shall we?" He extended his left elbow towards me and his right towards Cho.

Cho giggled as she slipped her arm to link with Draco's; after adjusting my short emerald dress I did the same. Draco escorted us out of the common room and headed towards the North Tower.

"Hey, Belle," Draco said as he swaggered down the hall. "Who did you set me up with for tonight?"

An evil little grin spread across my face. "Not telling! But you will find out in approximately 2 minutes when we arrive at the North Tower."

Draco looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Well," Draco started. "I know that she's probably a Gryffindor because you told me to get dress robes with a red trim," Draco said while gesturing towards the black and red dress robes he was wearing.

Suddenly, Draco stopped mid step. Cho and I looked back at him curiously.

"Oh Merlin," Draco muttered while running a hand through his hair. "You set me up with the she-weasel, didn't you, Belle!"

I stared blankly at him for a moment before realization hit me. "Ginny?" I said with a laugh. "No, it's not her."

We were just climbing the last staircase towards the North Tower when Draco starting guessing again.

"Well, if it's not the Weasel, and I know the Patil twins both have dates, then that only leaves..." Draco trailed off when we reached the top step.

"Oh, no way..." said the brunette that was leaning against the wall with two boys.

"Granger," Draco acknowledged the girl with a nod of his head. "Looks like you're the lucky girl who gets the fortunate experience of being my date for the evening."

"Lucky girl?" Hermione said in disbelief. "Tell me, Malfoy, what's so lucky about spending an entire evening with an arrogant, stuck up, conceited ferret?"

The two continued to argue and bicker while heading down the stairs that led to the Great Hall.

"I give them an hour," said the ginger to Harry's right.

"Thirty minutes," Harry countered back to George.

"I bet you both a galleon it lasts the whole night," Cho said to the boys with a smirk.

"You're on!"

The three shook on it as I rolled my eyes. After the bet was made, Harry offered his arm to Cho and George offered me his.

"Is your date satisfactory?" I quietly whispered to Cho as we headed down the corridor.

"Very," Cho said with a sly smile. "You're brother is so cute and very polite. Not to mention he's the Chosen One!" Cho winked.

I turned to George, who was escorting me down the hall.

"So," I started. "Who would have thought that the boy responsible for my black eye which led to my trouble in finding a date would end up being my date?"

George just smiled and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small tube.

"Here," he said while handing me the tube. "It's bruise paste; it instantly removes bruises when applied to skin."

I stared at him with my mouth wide open. "You mean to tell me," I said angrily. "That you had this bruise paste all this time and you are only giving it to me NOW?"

George smirked at my angry face before staring straight ahead. "How else was I to make sure you didn't get a date?" George said not looking me in the eye.

My mouth snapped shut and a light blush spread onto my cheeks.

"All you had to do was ask me," I mumbled while looking at my shoes.

"Well," George said while leading me through the Great Hall's doors. "We're here now so let's enjoy ourselves!" He whisked me onto the dance floor and spun me around. We nearly crashed into Fred and Angelina who were dancing nearby.

"Oi! Watch it over there!" Fred shouted over the music.

"Sorry!" I called back. Suddenly I turned back to George. "If Angelina and Fred are both Gryffindors, how were they able to come to the dance together?"

"Fred took Luna," George answered. "Angelina took some Hufflepuff bloke; they only came as friends."

"Oh," I said while looking around at the other couples. Ginny and Matthew were provocatively dancing in the corner of the room. I bet Ginny thought she could get Harry's attention by going to the ball with Harry's date's ex-boyfriend. I glanced over to Harry and Cho dancing and smirked. Apparently, Ginny thought wrong. I looked around the floor and was not too surprised to see Neville and Hannah Abbott shyly dancing with each other; they were just too cute! Blaise and Lavender were snogging off in the corner, oblivious to everything around them. I'm glad Cho didn't go with him; he's such a player. I was pretty surprised to see Pansy and Ron together, who would've thought he had the guts to ask her, and that she'd say yes? Speaking of redheaded men, my date grabbed my hand and started twirling me around to the beat.

About halfway through the dance, I wandered over to where Harry was sitting.

"Hey," I nodded at Harry. "How's it going?"

"Bloody fantastic!" Harry grinned. "Cho's amazing! She just went off to the loo, though. How's George?"

"George is a ton of fun, he just went off to grab us some drinks," I said while sitting next to Harry.

"Belle, I heard something suspicious the other night," Harry glanced around to make sure no one was near. "I Floo-called Sirius and he mentioned something about Voldemort looking for a weapon, something he didn't have last time."

"A weapon?" I asked. "Like a bomb or-"

"I don't think it's anything Muggle related," Harry cut in. "I bet it's more like new information or a powerful follower."

My face paled. "Voldemort was powerful last time he was around. If he has this 'weapon,' who knows what he will be able to do..."

"That's what I fear," Harry said nervously. "And with Umbridge around," Harry glanced over at the short witch who was chatting with a very annoyed Dumbledore, "I haven't been able to investigate further. I suspect my floo-calls to Sirius may have to be put on hold, too."

"Hey, Harry! Belle!" Ron called to us while striding over to our table. "Have you guys seen Hermione anywhere?"

Harry smirked and pointed to the brunette who was currently curled up with Draco Malfoy in a secluded corner, snogging like crazy.

"Oh bloody hell," Ron said while staring at the couple in disgust. "I'll kill him."

"No you won't," Cho said while walking up to us. "I'm very grateful for them because they just made me two galleons richer!" Cho said while extending her hand palm-up towards Harry who was already digging in his dress robe pocket.

"Hey, I brought drinks!" George said while placing five butterbeers on the table. His face dropped when he saw Cho's triumphant grin.

"They didn't," George said, his eyes scanning the crowd. Cho pointed to the corner Draco and Hermione occupied and reached out her palm.

"You spiked their drinks!" George said in protest while digging through his pockets.

"Did not! It was so obvious they liked each other though, I don't know how you guys didn't see it," Cho taunted while placing her two newly achieved galleons in her pocket.

"You're mental!" Ron practically shouted. "How could they like each other? They never stop fighting!"

"Ron," Harry said shaking his head. "Why don't you go keep your date company? I'm sure Pansy is lonely."

Ron left while muttering a complaint about Hermione.

"Well, my lady," George said while bowing in front of me. "Care for a dance?"

"Of cour-" I was cut off by a high-pitched yell. Everyone turned to see Umbridge advancing towards Dumbledore, wand in hand.

"I _know_ you contacted Sirius Black today, Dumbledore! Don't deny it! The Floo records do not lie!" Umbridge screamed at Dumbledore, a crazed look on her face.

"I do not deny it, Dolores," Dumbledore stated calmly.

Harry gasped beside me. "But, Belle, it was me, not-"

"You're going to Azkaban, Dumbledore! I'll make sure of it!" Dolores screeched while inching towards Dumbledore.

Dumbledore sighed, pity showing in his eyes. "Dolores, you may have some trouble with that. I honestly do not plan on going to Azkaban, at least not quietly..."

"Oh, you'll go quietly, alright!" Umbridge shouted in Dumbledore's face. "Whether I have to put a silencio charm on you myself or personally drag-" She was cut off by a beautiful screech.

Fawkes zoomed throughout the Great Hall towards Dumbledore and with a flash of gold the two of them were gone.

AUTHOR'S NOTE-

Hey everyone! I **know** this is not how Dumbledore got accused in the book, but I wanted to keep this story going and explaining Dumbledore's army would take at least two chapters and I really didn't have time for that. Not **everything** will be exactly like the books, that's why it is a fanfiction, so just bare with me on the little changes. As you may know, I have a facebook page- Don't Call Me Nymphadora, and I wanna thank admin Arthur for being my beta and helping me edit! I would also like to point out that I'm changing the genre to Action and Romance instead of Romance and Comedy; I think there will be more action than comedy so I feel this change is appropriate. Thanks for the awesome reviews! PLEASE LEAVE MORE REVIEWS AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! This is my first fanfiction I have ever written so try and avoid really harsh comments :/ 


	8. Chapter 7

A lot happened in the six months following the Yule Ball.

Umbridge took over the school and she stopped the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. We decided we still wanted the classes so the students secretly elected Harry as our new teacher. There was also never news as to where Dumbledore went but the Ministry is still looking. Meanwhile, Harry, Hermione, Ron and I are still trying to figure out what "weapon" Voldemort is searching for. Snape has been trying to teach Harry occlumency because Voldemort constantly enters Harry's dreams. Harry, who has not quite perfected the art of occlumency, has been telling me everything Snape taught him so I also can learn. Much to Harry's dismay, I caught on right away and can affectively block someone from entering me mind. Despite all the angst and anxiety running through the school, the relationships from the Yule Ball stayed strong. Harry and Cho are an item along with Ron and Pansy. Hermione and Draco are madly in love as are Angelina and Fred. George and I are inseparable and are quite the attractive couple if I do say so myself. The only relationship that didn't blossom from the Yule Ball was the pair Ginny and Matthew. He dumped her for some Muggle chick back home that he met over Christmas break. House Unity has been stronger since the Yule Ball, which is convenient because it's clear that a war will bestarting soon.

I was currently sitting on the floor of the Gryffindor common room playing a game of Truth or Dare with George, Harry, Cho, Hermione, Draco, Fred and Angelina.

"Ok, Malfoy, you're turn to ask," Angelina said from her spot on the floor next to Fred.

"Alright, truth or dare, Weasley?" Although Draco had become friendly with the Gryffindors because of Hermione, he was still not on a first name basis with them.

"Dare," George said without hesitation.

"Ok, Mr. Brave, I dare you to make an Unbreakable Vow with someone in this room," Draco said with a smirk, assuming George would chicken out.

"Easy!" George said while pulling Fred to his feet. Draco also rose so he could cast the spell.

Once they were all in position, George said clearly, "I vow to never break a promise I make to you, Fred." A spark shot out of Draco's wand and encircled the twins' hands before it set intotheir skin.

"Ok, now it's my turn to ask!" George said while reclaiming his seat in the armchair behind me. "Harry, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

While George was thinking of what he wanted Harry to do, a Gryffindor boy from first year approached me.

"Excuse me, Annabelle?" the boy said while fumbling his thumbs nervously.

"Yes?" I said stepping away from the game so I could talk to him.

"I have a letter for you," he said while reaching into his pocket and handing me a letter, "from Professor Snape."

"Thank you," I said after I took the letter from his outstretched hand. He quickly left and went to play chess with another boy his age.

I tore open the sealed letter and read the note.

_Miss Potter-_

_Please come to my office immediately after you read this; it is urgent._

_-Prof. Snape_

I furrowed my brow in confusion. _Why would Professor Snape need to see me urgently?_

"Hey guys," I said after I returned to my friends. "I just got a letter from Snape and I need to go to his office. I'll see you at dinner, ok?"

The grouped nodded in agreement before resuming their game. George rose to his feet and took my hand. "I'll walk you there," he said with a smile.

George and I exited the Common Room and started the long trek to the dungeons. About two flights down, George unexpectedly pulled me into a random classroom.

"Mrs. Norris," George said in response to my confused expression.

"George, I have a note from Snape, it's ok, we won't get in trouble." I waved Snape's note in front of George's face.

"Yeah, you have permission to wander the halls, being a prefect and having that note, but I don't!" George sat down on a desk and shrugged. "Let's just wait a minute or two until Mrs. Norris leaves, alright?"

"Ok," I said while wandering around the deserted classroom, to anxious about the meaning of Snape's letter to sit down. I was just reaching the far corner of the room when I found a huge covered wardrobe.

"Hey, what's this?" I shouted across the classroom to George. He hopped off the desk and walked over to where I was standing. He reached up and tugged the sheet covering the wardrobe and dropped it to the floor.

"Merlin's beard!" I said in amazement when I realized the wardrobe wasn't a wardrobe at all, but a mirror.

"Is that...?" George trailed off.

"Yup," I said with awe in my voice. "The Mirror of Erised."

We both stared into the mirror for a few moments.

"What do you see?" I asked George quietly.

"I just see myself standing next to you. It just looks like a normal reflection." George said with a voice thick with emotion. "What about you?"

I gazed deeply in the mirror. "I see my parents," my voice caught in my throat. "And Voldemort is at our feet, dead." Tears spilled down my face as I looked into my parents' eyes, seeing joy and pride. I noticed there was something in my hand when I reached out to touch my mother's reflection. I stared blankly at the piece of paper when reality hit me.

"SNAPE!" I shouted and starting sprinting to the door. "I almost forgot about the meeting! He said it was urgent! We need to hurry!" I burst out the door and started sprinting down the hall with George close on my heels. Two minutes later I stood bent over panting at Snape's office door.

"Thanks... for... walking... me..." I said to George while trying to catch my breath. He too was doubled over, wheezing.

"Next time," George said between breaths. "When I say I will walk you somewhere, we'll actually walk."

He reached up and knocked on Snape's door. I immediately heard Snape call out for me to enter. George waved goodbye and started heading back towards Gryffindor tower. I turned towards the door and slowly pushed it open. Snape rose from where he was sitting and went to lean against his desk.

"Annabelle," he said with a nod. "Please sit down." He gestured toward the chair in front of him.

I walked forward and sat down in the chair nervously.

"Professor," I started. "Is everything alright?"

Snape shakily ran his hands though his hair and sighed.

"No."

"Should I get Professor Dumbledore, sir?" I asked anxiously.

"No, no!" Snape said quickly. "Dumbledore actually forbid me to inform you of the news I just found out..." He faded out of his sentence, not meeting my eye. He suddenly cleared his throat.

"However, I am going to tell you anyways," Snape stated.

I looked back in shock. This news must be truly terrible if Snape would go against the headmaster to tell me. Heck, it must be bad news if Dumbledore forbid it in the first place.

"Sir, are you sure? I mean you could lose your job and I would hate to see that happen because of me and-"

"Annabelle," Snape cut in. "Dumbledore controls what I can or can't say to my students. However, since it is after school hours and you are not here for educational purposes, I'm not speaking to you as your professor, but as your godfather."


	9. Chapter 8

Severus Snape was my godfather.

I sat in silence for a few moments going over this new information in my head.

Snape was my godfather? I always assumed my godfather would be Sirius, just like Harry. Then again, Sirius never actually stated for a fact that he was my godfather. I always thought it was because I was a Slytherin and he wasn't as proud to be my godfather as he was to be Harry's. But since Sirius wasn't my godfather, why would my mother choose Snape, of all people? I know it was my mother that chose him because after the memory Harry said he saw of Snape and my father; I know they were not particularly fond of each other. Yet since Snape ismy godfather, why am I still living with the Dursleys? As my godfather, doesn't he gain custody in the death of my parents?

I looked up to Snape's eyes that were staring at me curiously, obviously trying to see how I would take this news.

"But, how? Why are- but the- I don't-" I stuttered, not knowing where to start with my many questions.

Snape sighed. "I'm guessing you're looking for an explanation?" I nodded. "Well, first I think I should tell you why you are only being informed of this now," Snape started.

"Why aren't I living with you?" I asked quickly.

"Well with your mother... and... I" Snape faded out of the story he was beginning to tell. "Sorry, what did you just say?" Snape asked me with confusion etched onto his face.

"I asked why I am not living with you." I stated firmly. "Why am I still stuck with the Dursleys when my godfather is alive-and not a wanted criminal," I added, thinking of Sirius' situation. "I am 17 and therefore the legal age in the Wizarding World so why in hell am I still living with those horrible Muggles?"

Snape stared at me incredulously, as if he couldn't believe what I just said.

"Are you saying you would rather live with me, a deatheater and the most hated teacher in Hogwarts?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not daft, Professor. I know there must be a reason that led my mother to pick you as my godfather, I know you are in the Order and therefore not a loyal follower of Voldemort, and frankly, you are not the most hated teacher in this school; you are the Head of Slytherin! You must know all us snakes respect you?"

It took Snape a moment to process what I just said. "Annabelle, would you think it would be wise if the sibling of the boy the Dark Lord wishes to kill was living in the house of one of his closest Death Eaters? I couldn't tell you I was your godfather before because I feared the Dark Lord would use you as a pawn to get to your brother. I couldn't lose my only goddaughter to be bait for the capture of the bloody Chosen One." Snape cleared his throat and slipped on a mask of indifference. "However, now that I know that you have learned occlumency, I can trust this news will be kept secret from prying eyes. I also needed to tell you some valuable information concerning the Dark Lord."

After the shock of Snape being my godfather, I almost forgot he only told me because he needed to inform me of something dangerous.

"Annabelle, do you know what a horcrux is?"

I immediately opened my mouth out of habit to answer the question asked when I realized I actually didn't know the definition.

"No, Professor," I said glumly, "I do not."

I could have sworn that Snape was trying to hold back a smirk. "I have finally found out something Annabelle Potter does not know? Hmm, I must remember to mark this day down on my calendar..."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, Professor, you've made your point, now please tell me what a horcrux is."

"A horcrux is an object in which a person has trapped part of their soul inside, making them immortal. Until both the person soul is completely destroyed, they cannot die. The brief summary of how a horcrux is made involves first killing someone- to split your soul- and then enclosing it in a specific object."

My mind started whirring as it processed this new information. I quickly came to the conclusion I hoped Snape was looking for.

"Voldemort! Professor, are you saying that Voldemort has a horcrux and that is how he was able to stay alive after his curse rebounded?"

Snape shifted uncomfortably. "Yes and no. Yes, a horcrux is what kept Voldemort alive but no, he does not own _a_ horcrux, he owns seven."

I stared at him dumbfounded. "He split his soul into eight pieces? Well what are they? How do we destroy them?"

Snape stared at his feet, unable to meet my eye. "Annabelle, we must make an Unbreakable Vow if I tell you, assuring you tell no one, not even Harry, _especially_ not Harry, what the horcruxes are. Agreed?"

I quickly nodded my head, eager to hear the information Snape had to tell me.

"Well, Dumbledore believes," Snape started awkwardly, "that the horcruxes are Voldemort's family ring, Tom Riddle's diary- which has already been destroyed, his snake Nagini, something from the Ravenclaw family, the Hufflepuff family and the Slytherin family and..." Snape trailed off.

"And?" I asked desperately.

Snape gave me a look of pity; almost as if he didn't want to tell me the last horcrux. Almost as if he was apologizing for what he was about to tell me. Almost as if it was killing him almost as much as it was going to kill me when he said: "Your brother."

An electric current rushed through my body, exiting out of my fingertips and toes. I squinted my eyes against the light and slowly peeked them open. I saw two black eyes staring cautiously at me.

"You passed out. I had to use 'enervate' twice before you awoke."

I blinked in confusion. I hadpassed out? Then today's events hit me like a speeding Hogwarts Express; the note, the Mirror of Erised, Voldemort's dead body, the final horcrux. I swallowed the lump in my throat when I realized the only way to have at least part of my greatest desire come true would include Harry dying.

"Sir, I-"

"Annabelle," Snape cut in. "Before we discuss this, we must make an Unbreakable Vow. Since we do not have a third person to perform the spell, we instead will use a different version that Dumbledore taught me in which only two people are needed, not three."

I nodded and Snape performed the spell. I vowed to not tell anyone the information and gold flames entwined our joined hands. Just as the flame was fading, a silver otter burst into the room.

"Annabelle- come to the common room immediately; Harry's had another vision of Voldemort and he thinks Sirius is in trouble."


	10. Chapter 9

**George's Point of View**

Harry was completely passed out on the ground. Hermione was searching for smelling salts and Cho and Angelina were trying to shake him awake. We were just in the middle of our truth or dare game when he fainted. He awoke briefly mumbling something about Sirius in trouble with Voldemort and then fell to the ground again, clutching his forehead. Hermione had immediately sent out for Belle.

A minute or two later, I heard an urgent knock on the portrait hole and I raced across the common room and jerked open the door.

"Where is he?" Annabelle panted and pushed past me towards Harry.

"Nice to see you too, darling," I called after her as I shut the portrait hole.

I turned around to find Belle leaning over Harry, her wand pointed at his chest. Fred and Draco looked on curiously nearby.

"Enervate," Annabelle whispered.

Harry slowly started to stir awake. Hermione raised her eyebrows in question as she walked back to Annabelle kneeling on the ground.

"How did...?"

Annabelle blushed. "Snape had to do the same to me when I fainted a couple of minutes ago."

I could feel the blood draining from my face. I rushed forward in concern. "You fainted? Are you alright? What happened? You didn't hit your head do you?" I reached towards her head, searching for bumps.

"No, I'm fine," Annabelle shook me off.

Confusion washed over me. "Why did you faint?"

Annabelle's cheeks reddened even more. "Well... I... I was dehydrated," she said with a nod, trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince me.

I raised my eyebrow at her stumbling excuse, not once believing what she was saying. She avoided my eyes as everyone processed what she said. She awkwardly cleared her throat and chanced a glance at me; I sent her a look in return letting her know I would drop the subject for now but not forever.

Our attention turned back to Harry, who was now sitting up.

"Harry! What happened? What did you see?" Annabelle said hurriedly, glad the attention had shifted off her.

"It was Voldemort," Harry started. "He was ordering Bellatrix and..." Harry faded off uncomfortably and his eyes shot quickly towards Draco.

"My father," Draco spat, contempt and loathing flowing out his mouth. "Foul, dirty, backstabbing..." as Draco continued his rant towards Lucius, I was amusedly brought back to summers in Grimmauld Place when Mrs. Black was shrieking insults at all the occupants of the house, including her own son. Speaking of which…

"Harry, what about Sirius?" I cut into Draco's tirade.

"Voldemort order Bellatrix and Lucius to capture Sirius and use him as blackmail towards me, hoping to lure me in." Harry said softly though anger was clearly evident in his voice.

"Well, we'll just have to get to Sirius before the death eaters do then," Hermione said determinedly.

"Can we floo him?" Harry asked.

"Not from here," Cho answered. "All the networks in Hogwarts are shut down besides the one in Umbridge's office."

"We can break you in!" Fred said while flinging an arm around me. "If anyone cando it, me and Georgie can!"

I nodded in agreement. "How about Belle and Draco distract Umbitch? She's particularly fond of you Slytherin folk, and not to mention you are both prefects."

Annabelle and Draco looked at each other and shrugged, simultaneously rising to their feet.

"We can give you 10 minutes," Draco said as they rushed out the portrait hole.

"Well, Georgie," Fred said as he led me out after Draco and Belle. "We've got a convict to contact."

**Draco's Point of View**

Distracting Umbridge was fairly easy. A few compliments and the mention of a fresh pot of tea in the kitchens and the old hag was out of her office faster than Snape confronted with a bottle of shampoo. Annabelle and I guided her the long way to the kitchens, assuring the Weasels more time than necessary to contact the mutt. On our way back, I made the excuse of having to finish my homework and rushed ahead of Belle and Umbridge double check that the twins were well out of the office.

Upon arriving the office, I slipped open the cracked door and couldn't believe what I saw. The twins and Sirius were lounged out upon the frilly pink sofa, eating biscuits.

"ARE YOU ALL BLOODY IDIOTS!" I whisper-shouted. "Belle and Umbridge will be back any moment! Why are you still here?" I asked Black furiously.

"I, uh, we were still discussing Harry's dream," Sirius said while motioning towards the twins and himself.

Just then the office door was flung open. Annabelle's eyes grew to be as round as the hideous cat saucers that decorated the walls. She stopped short, blocking the smaller witch behind her from entering the room.

"Um, Professor, I think I left my purse in-" Annabelle stalled.

"MOVE!" screamed Umbridge, sensing something was wrong and shoving Annabelle out of the way. George leaped forward and caught Annabelle before she could crash into the pink china cabinet. Fred also jumped up, grabbed Sirius' arm and flung him and a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and shouted "Hog's Head!"

Umbridge screeched and raced towards the green flames, her hands just missing Sirius' body. She then angrily turned towards Fred, quickly pulling her wand from her pocket.

"FRED WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU AID A MURDEROUS CRIMINAL IN HIS ESCAPE! I'LL HAVE YOU THROWN IN AZKABAN FOR THIS! I SWEAR TO IT I WILL! EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO, I WILL GUARANTEE THAT I WILL ASSURE YOU ROT IN A CELL FOR CENTURIES!"

As Umbridge screamed, Annabelle quietly slipped out of the office door unnoticed.

Umbridge continued to stalk towards Fred. He started to back up, scurrying away from the witch's wand. His back hit the fireplace and yet Umbridge continued to advance towards him.

"TO THINK WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF _I_ WERE THE ONE TO TURN IN BLACK! CORNELIUS WOULD HAVE BEEN DELIGHTED! BUT YOU RUINED MY CHANCE TO MAKE HIM PROUD! NOW YOU WILL PAY!" Umbridge shouted angrily, poking Fred in the chest with her wand.

I glanced nervously over to George, who was quietly pulling something out of his pocket. I sent him a questioning look when he had extracted a small blue container. He simply winked at me and slammed the container down onto the ground. Peruvian Instant Dark Powder was suddenly all around us. I had just enough time before the darkness overcame my eyes to see Fred quickly reach over his shoulder and grab a small pink jar. I then heard him jump into the fireplace and smash the jar. Green flames streaked through the darkness as Fred shouted "THE BURROW!"

**Hermione's point of view.**

"We shouldn't have depended so greatly on the twins. Fred and George may be smart when it comes to inventing toys, but were they serious enough to understand the importance in their mission?" I babbled to Cho. "Surely they would so something foolish and get caught; they are only sneaky when performing a prank. We should've sent Belle with them to help. She would've been smart enough to break in and sneaky enough to ensure they left no evidence behind. I do agree with Draco being a good distraction though. Too many times I have drifted into dream land fantasizing about those golden locks and strong muscles..." Cho coughed uncomfortably. "Right, perception, sorry. OK, focus. We need a plan B because plan A is destined to fail and-" I stopped short as someone frantically pounded in the common room door. I raced towards it and flung open the portrait hole.

"You should all just tell me the bloody password because this knocking business is getting quite annoying," Belle said bent over, trying to catch her breath. "And frankly, I'm sick of these towers! Too many staircases!"

I stared at her for a second. "The password is Fawkes."

Annabelle smiled her thanks and Cho nodded in recognition.

"I think I remember Harry mentioning that once," Cho added quietly.

"Speaking of Harry," Annabelle turned to me, "where is he?"

"Yes, Hermione," Cho said with bitter amusement dripping off her words. "Please enlighten us what my boyfriend is doing in his room, considering you're the only one he brings in there!" Cho huffed accusingly.

I felt my jaw drop. "Harry's godfather is in danger and all you can think about is that I've been in his room more times than you have? Let me remind you that I have my own boyfriend and Harry is only my friend!" I glared at the petite brunette, astonished she would bring up something so foolish when Sirius was clearly in trouble.

"Ahem," Annabelle cut in. "That was actually why I rushed back here; I needed to tell you that the plan failed."

I plopped down on the couch frustrated. "I knew it wouldn't bloody well work all along..." I mumbled to no one in particular.

"What happened?" Cho asked Belle once her attention was finally diverted from me.

Annabelle filled us in on the events, from her and Draco distracting Umbridge to Fred and George wasting time with Sirius and finally to Sirius' escape and Fred's crime.

Harry walked down the stairs that led from the boys' dormitories. Cho immediately rushed to his side, claiming her property. Annabelle repeated the tale to Harry and we watched his face grow pale.

"Why would Fred send him to the Hog's Head?" Harry asked nervously. "Why wouldn't he go straight to Grimmuald Place?"

"I think because Fred didn't want to give the secret to Umbridge," Annabelle answered. "If Fred said Grimmuald Place, it would give her access to the Fidelius charm. Fred probably sent Sirius to the Hog's Head because it was the first quiet deserted yet public place he could think-"

Annabelle stopped short and stared at Harry curiously. Cho and I also averted our attention from Belle to Harry.

"Harry?" Cho asked. "Are you alright? You look a little pale..."

Harry's hands suddenly shot to his forehead. He started to fall forward but luckily I reached forward and caught him before he could crash onto the floor.

**Cho's Point of View**

Harry was really starting to make me nervous. This was the second time he passed out within the hour, both being the results of unbearable pain from his scar. And, to top things off, Hermione has the nerve to hold Harry! Never mind that she caught him before he fell, he's MY boyfriend so I should be the one catching him! I am the seeker after all! I have fast reflexes just as well!

Annabelle leaned forward with her wand, about to 'enervate' Harry again. However, Hermione grabbed her wrist before she could do so.

"Wait," Hermione said patiently. She continued to soothingly stroke his hair, muttering words of encouragement.

"OK THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!" I shouted angrily. "You can't just come in here and expect to manhandle MY boyfriend! I don't-"

Harry's eyes shot open. "Voldemort," he whispered. Immediately my eyes returned to his recovering form, forgetting about Hermione's intentions.

"What was your dream Harry?" I asked softly.

"Three death eaters captured Sirius at the Hog's Head. They're bringing him to the ministry to torture him for information about me." Suddenly Harry jumped up. "We need to go! Now!"

He was already at the portrait hole before we could even process what he said. Belle rose to her feet and shrugged at Hermione and me.

"Looks like we got a criminal to catch."


	11. Chapter 10

**Annabelle's****Point****of****View**

As I followed Harry out of the castle, I wondered if we should tell the others.

"Harry," I called ahead. "What about George and Draco?"

"Too late to go back now," Harry answered. "If we stop now, we will never reach

Sirius in time!"

Hermione muttered a spell next to me and a silver otter suddenly burst from her wand, searching for our boyfriends. I smiled my thanks and we continued on.

"Harry," Cho asked as we rushed out the front door. "Where are we going exactly?

I'm pretty sure we can't walk to the Ministry from here..."

"The forest," Harry said. "I know something in there we could use for

transportation."

"What is it?" Hermione asked nervously. "You know I don't like flying..."

"Trust me, Hermione," Harry said with a smile. "This type of flying will be much safer and steadier than a broom."

I watched Hermione calm slightly, although she still looked a little pale from the thought of being air born.

"What type of transportation were you thinking of exactly?" Hermione timidly asked.

"You'll see," Harry smirked.

Hmmm... Flying transportation found in the Forbidden Forest? What could Harry be thinking of? Maybe pegasi? No, they would be to hard to tame. Well then maybe he was... No he couldn't be...

"Almost there..." Harry said after we had been walking in the forest for ten minutes. "Stop and be still," Harry commanded.

Hermione and Cho froze midstep, looking around curiously. I, who also stopped, knew better than to look for the transportation Harry was seeking.

"Harry," I whispered as I started slowing inching towards him. "Hermione won't like flying like this..."

He shrugged. "No different than what she's used to."

"But Harry," I protested. "She won't be happy when she finds out our transportation is invisible!"

"Invisible is all the better! Muggles won't be able to see us!" Harry countered back.

I averted my eyes towards Hermione and I saw her staring into the night, nervously ringing her hands. Harry also noticed this and slowly went over to comfort her.

"Hermione, don't worry, it will-" Harry faded off. "It's almost here!" he whisper-shouted excitedly.

Wait, _it_?

"Um, Harry?" I asked as a low rumble was beginning to be heard. "By 'it,' did you mean 'they'? I mean, we are going to ride more than one? There's no way we could fit on just a single one..."

"Of course we'll fit," Harry said, though slightly confused. "Why wouldn't we be able to?"

The rumbling was getting louder as our means of transportation grew closer.

"Well usually only two can fit on horseback, and there's-"

"Horseback?" Harry cut in. "Belle, what kind of transportation are you thinking of?"

"Thestral, of course!" I answered impatiently. "Isn't that what you're thinking of?"

Harry looked slightly amused. "Thestral, huh? Now why didn't I think of that?"

Suddenly, bright lights blinded the four of us. After a few seconds of rapid blinking, my eyes adjusted to see the outline of a Ford Angela.

"I'm driving!" Harry said with a smirk and sprinted towards the right side of the car.

"No way! I'm oldest!" I shouted and chased after Harry.

"Not true! I got two months on you, Belle!" Cho argued as she chased after me.

Hermione slowly followed our racing forms, trying to calm herself for the flying ahead.

After arguing who would drive, (it was decided that Harry would drive because the car was his idea), we set off into the night sky heading towards the

Ministry.

**Harry's****Point****of****View**

Breaking into the ministry was a piece of cake. I couldn't have had more luck than to have the brightest witch in my grade, a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw with me. Finding Sirius, on the other hand, would be difficult.

"Harry?" Annabelle asked, interrupting me from my thoughts. "Don't you have a mirror that you can contact Sirius with?"

Bloody hell. How could I forget that?

"Yeah," I said glumly. "It's in my dorm, though."

Annabelle considered this for a moment. "Alright, well we will just have to split up to find Sirius then."

Hermione nodded. "How about I go with Harry this way and you two go that way?" Hermione asked Cho and Belle.

Cho shot Hermione a glare but I smiled at her and mouthed 'trust me,' which seemed to calm my suspicious girlfriend a bit.

"Do you still have those galleons I gave you?" Hermione asked. We all nodded yes. "Good, contact each other if anything happens."

"Alright, let's go!" Annabelle said and tugged Cho in the other direction.

Hermione bit her lip and looked around.

"Harry," Hermione said quietly. "Slip into his brain. Try and find out where they are."

I sat down slowly, preparing myself to invade the Dark Lord's mind. I closed my eyes and concentrated.

Images flashed through my brain. Sirius was being tortured. A cold laugh ran through the air. "Where isss the boy?" the man hissed.

"I'll never tell!" Sirius shouted at the torturer.

A cold laugh once again cut through the air. "Jusssst like you'll never live another day again! Crucio!"

Sirius' screams faded as I pulled back into the real world.

Hermione was kneeling beside me, a concerned look on her face.

"They're in the courtrooms," I told her, not being able to tell what else went on in my vision.

"Right," she said with a nod and helped me to my feet. "Let's go."

As we sprinted in the opposite direction if Ammabelle and Cho, Hermione grabbed her wand and the coin in her pocket and muttered _'courtroom.'_ A faint glow appeared briefly and I knew her message was sent to the others.

Hermione and I reached the courtrooms in three minutes. We stood in the hall outside, planning our next move.

"Let's first see what we are up against," Hermione said while pointing her wand at the courtroom door.

"Homenum Revelio," she paused and waited.

"Well?" I asked impatiently.

"We're alone."

We both shared a look of confusion that quickly turned to panic as Hermione's galleon glowed.

A soft thud was heard as our heads banged together in our attempts to both see what the galleon said at the same time.

I apologetically smiled at Hermione and allowed her to read the coin. She paled and quickly handed me the galleon. My heart stopped as I read the words etched magically on the surface.

"The atrium, we're out numbered."


	12. Chapter 11

Everyone died.


	13. Chapter 12

JUST KIDDING. No one is dead. Yet…

**Hermione's Point of View**

"The atrium, we're out numbered."

I quickly stuffed the galleon back into my pocket and began to sprint towards the atrium.

"How is this possible?" Harry asked as we ran. "I was positive they were in the courtroom in my vision!"

I considered this for a moment before I spoke. "It was a false image. Voldemort was trying to trap you into going the wrong way I think."

Harry huffed in annoyance. "Sirius could be dead by now!"

"Sirius may not be here at all!" I countered back. "Any image of Sirius being captured or tortured could be fake!"

"Let's hope so!" Harry said as we ran up a flight of stairs. "But now we have Cho and Annabelle to worry about!"

30 seconds later we reached the hallway leading to the atrium. Luckily, Harry found an extendable ear in his pocket and pulled it out. We crouched behind a column to listen.

I heard a raspy woman's voice first. "My lord, where-"

"In that room, quickly" Voldemort hissed.

I heard the sound of two people shuffling, obviously fulfilling the demand Voldemort had just ordered.

"Nagini," the Dark Lord whispered. "Find them!"

Joy washed over me as I realized Annabelle and Cho must have escaped. They were hiding somewhere and Nagini had to locate them. I pulled out the galleon and tapped it once, satisfied that my warning would be sent in time. Just as I was returning the galleon to my pocket, I heard something sliding on the floor.

"What's that?" I asked to Harry.

Harry closed his eyes, listening intently. After a few seconds, his eyes flew open in shock.

"Nagini!" he whispered nervously.

Realization hit me fast as I turned around to see a huge snake sliding towards me, hissing angrily. The Dark Lord wasn't looking for Cho and Annabelle; he was looking for Harry and me.

**Harry's Point of View**

Nagini was gaining on us and it took all of my concentration to stay focused. Being so close to the Dark Lord, I kept slipping in and out of his mind.

"The weapon...?" Voldemort asked to the black-haired witch.

"It's safe in the room you appointed, my lord," Bellatrix said with a bow. "The final piece of the weapon should be arriving shortly."

"Good, very good," Voldemort said while absentmindedly twirling his wand. "Go help Nagini, I don't want her to have to touch the mudblood."

I slipped back to the present and saw Nagini circling us. Hermione raised her arm shakily, holding her wand out in front of her.

"Harry," she whispered. "Harry, what do we do?"

I slowly withdrew my wand from my pocket and did the only thing I could think of.

"Asssssiiiyyyaaaahhhh," I hissed at the snake. Nagini stopper her movement and stared at me.

"It's helping!" Hermione said excitedly. "Keep going!"

"Assssiiiiyyyyaaaassseeee!" I paused.

All was still and silent. Hermione let out the breath she had been holding in.

Then Nagini attacked.

She lounged at my wand arm, disarming me and knocking me to the ground. She wrapped her lithe body around my legs and started to drag me towards the atrium.

I hear a scream from behind me and I glanced up from the floor to look at Hermione. Bellatrix had disarmed her and had her by the hair, a knife pointing at Hermione's throat.

"Come on, filthy mudblood!" she screamed while pulling Hermione down the hall by her hair. "The Dark Lord requests your presence, too, and I will not disappoint him!"

When we reached the atrium, Nagini released her hold on me. As soon as I stood up, an invisible force pushed me towards the statue in the center and ropes immediately tied me to the base. I looked up to see Bellatrix dragging Hermione into another room.

"The-Boy-Who-Lived," Voldemort addressed me, which brought my attention back to him. "Oh if your mummy could see you now!" he barked. The five death eaters around him laughed loudly.

"Well, Harry," Voldemort started as he casually walked around the statue I was roped to. "We all know who you are, and I know you know who I am, but for the rest... I think some introductions are in order, no?"

It took all my willpower not to spit in his grinning face. That would wipe the smirk away quicker than you could say You-Know-Who. However, I knew it would also get me killed faster, or worse, tortured. And for that reason, I bit my tongue to hold back my response.

"Now," Voldemort said while pointing to the man at his right. "I'm sure you know Malfoy?"

Even with the mask still on, I could see Lucius scowling back at me.

"We've met," I spat out. "Mr. Malfoy, if you don't mind me asking, how is the Manor these days? It must be so dusty with out a house elf around any more..."

I grimaced as Lucius shot a stinging hex my way.

"Little boy," Lucius sneered. "You will learn to respect your superiors."

"Enough, Lucius," Voldemort said while holding out a hand to stop Mr. Malfoy's advance towards me. "Potter, I'm sure you're also familiar with Goyle, Crabbe and Nott, yes? And allow me to introduce you to Dolohov."

"It's a pleasure, Potter," Dolohov said with a grin.

"Pleasure is all yours," I grunted back.

Just then, a door to the right opened and Bellatrix stepped out, slightly disheveled.

"Ahhh, Bellatrix," Voldemort said as he beckoned her over. "Come, join the party!"

Bellatrix snickered and scuttled over to join us. "Yes, my lord?"

"Allow me to introduce you to our guest of honor!" Voldemort gestured towards me tied up against the statue. "Harry, meet Bellatrix. Bellatrix, Harry."

Bellatrix curtsied and bowed her head with a laugh. "Delighted to finally meet you, Mr. Potter!" Bellatrix cackled.

Just as I was about to reply, a flash a light streaked through the atrium; then another, and another. Soon, the whole room lit up and I struggled to shield my eyes from the brightness. When the light died down I saw Sirius standing in front of Bellatrix and Lucius, who was fumbling with his cane to try and locate his wand.

"Step away from my godson!" Sirius barked while grabbing the cane from Lucius and smacking him upside the head with it as he spat on Bellatrix.

Fighting immediately broke out and I attempted to duck behind the statue. I saw Tonks, Remus and Sirius dueling with Malfoy, Bellatrix and Goyle. Moody was currently taking on both Crabbe and Nott.

"Potter!" Moody shouted from where he had cornered Crabbe. "Go hide yourself!"

He sent a hex my way and the ropes around me were sliced off.

"But I don't have my wand!" I called back as I jumped to my feet.

"Just go! It's you the Dark Lord wants! Go hide! We have these dunderheads under control!" Moody stunned Crabbe and turned to start on Nott. I looked around, just now realizing that Voldemort had disappeared from the fight.

"Bloody coward," I mumbled under my breath as I set off running in the opposite direction, my sneakers pounding the tiled floor. 


	14. Chapter 13

**Harry's****Point****of****View**

I rushed past offices and hallways in search of a hiding spot. The game Hide-And-Seek took on a whole new meaning now. No longer would I be hiding to win some child's game; I was now hiding for my life.

My mind returned to last year, running through that blasted maze. The ever winding twists and turns made it impossible for me to remember which direction I was going in; I only hoped that it was in the opposite direction of where Voldemort was. With any luck, the Order would be able to handle all those Death Eaters.

Merlin's Beard! I almost forgot about Hermione! Last time I saw her she was being pulled along by Bellatrix Lestrange! I don't even want to think of what could have happened to Annabelle and Cho by now. Their fates, along with the rest of the Order, would have to remain a mystery for now.

And then it hit me; I knew exactly where to hide.

**Hermione's****Point****of****View**

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod what do we do? We can't just let them kill Harry! That would make two of my boyfriends murdered by the same guy within one year!" Cho whined from her spot on the floor. Sweat and tears were pouring down her face from nerves and anxiety.

"Oh, shut it will you?" I called back, struggling with the ropes around my body. "I can't hear myself think with you crying over there!"

Now if I could just focus my mind enough I could use wandless magic to cut the ropes.

Focus. Focus. Focus...

"What do you think they're going to do with us?" Cho whispered.

I sighed. "I don't know. Torture us for information is my guess."

Cho gasped. "But why US? We're just kids!"

I stared at her, completely shocked. "You know, for a Ravenclaw, you are pretty daft, aren't you?"

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Cho shrieked. "You think you're better than me, is that it? Well in case you forgot, Harry chose ME over YOU so-"

"I HAVE BOYFRIEND!" I shouted back. "I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH HARRY! I LOVE DRACO! UNDERSTAND? And what I meant when I said you were not showing Ravenclaw qualities is that apparently you forgot Voldemort tried to murder Harry when he was only a baby! Voldemort will stop at nothing to get to him, and if torturing and killing us will get him closer to Harry, then I'm positive he will do that. And to answer your question to 'why us,' we are the three most important females in Harry's life: his best friend, his girlfriend and his sister! Now if you don't mind, I'm trying to concentrate!"

Cho huffed in defeat and turned toward the wall.

"Well," Annabelle said, interrupting my concentration. "If you two are done arguing then maybe I will release you. " She smiled as she stood, her destroyed ropes falling down to her ankles.

"But- how- I-you-" I stuttered.

"First of all," Annabelle said while dusting of her clothes. "I am a year older than you, and have much more experience with wandless magic than you do, despite all the adventures you go on."

I stared unbelievably at her. Had I finally met my match?

"Secondly," Annabelle said with a smirk. "I always keep a Swiss army knife on me." She flipped out the blade and started working on Cho's ropes.

I had to smile despite my personal failure. Leave it to Annabelle to find a Muggle way out of a situation I was so focused on using magic on. "How very Slytherin of you," I said to Annabelle as she sawed at Cho's ropes.

"Thanks," she smiled. "I actually learned that bit from Draco: never be defenseless. I'm surprised you haven't picked up a few Slytherin traits of your own from spending so much time with him."

I shrugged my shoulders as she cut through the final strands of the ropes on Cho and then started on mine.

"I think I'm having a bigger effect on him then he is on me," I commented as she dug into my ropes.

She stopped for a second to think before resuming to saw. "You know, you're absolutely right!"

I smirked. "I usually am..."

"He hasn't stole anything since you two started dating!" Annabelle exclaimed as she cut through the final strand. "You are changing him into a Gryffindor! He's softening up!"

"I told him he had to change if he wanted to be with me," I said as Annabelle lifted me to my feet. "So he changed and here we are today."

"Well let's hope I'm not rubbing off on my boyfriend the way you are," Annabelle said as I dusted off my clothing. "The last thing we need is a Weasley twin thinking and acting like a Slytherin..."

"Oi!" Cho cried. "We have a situation on our hands!"

"Right," I shook my head. "Sorry."

"This way, my dears!" Annabelle drawled with a bow as she extended her arm towards the door.

Cho rushed out the door ahead of me and I followed immediately after with Annabelle close on my heels.

We raced down the corridor and stopped at the scene before us.

"Shit," Annabelle muttered.

**Annabelle's****Point****of****View**

Streaks of light shot out of wands faster than a hair appointment with Voldemort. Many members of the Order were dueling what I could only imagine would be Death Eaters.

"Where's Voldemort?" Hermione loudly asked over the noise.

"More importantly, where's Harry?" Cho shouted back.

My eyes scanned the crowd for my brother, only to be disappointed.

"He's not here!" I yelled to the two girls. "We need to keep looking!"

Suddenly, a shrill cackle cut through the battle noise.

"Well, well, well," a familiar- looking black haired witch said while slowly approaching us. "Look what we have here. It's the filthy mudblood again!" Hermione tensed slightly at my side upon hearing this said. "Oh, and it looks like she managed to snag a few friends along the way!"

The witch began to circle us. Cho, Hermione and I formed a tight triangle with our backs to each other, hoping to keep our eyes on both the witch and the other duels.

"Well," the familiar woman said with her eyes scanning my body. "If I didn't know any better, I would say the Mudblood befriended another of her kind: Lily Potter!" I sucked my breath in sharply, taken off guard by the sudden mention of my deceased mother.

The witch smirked at my discomfort. "However, I _do_ know better so I can only assume you are one of her spawn," she stepped forward, twirling my hair around her finger. I froze under her spinning finger, hoping she would release my scarlet locks. "And obviously you're not itty-bitty Harry, so you must be," the witch paused, dropping my hair from her fingers. "Abigail, is it?"

"Annabelle," I spat out, not looking her in the eye.

"Ahhhh, yes, do forgive me, deary," the familiar woman said while stepping back a few feet, twirling her wand in her hand. "You see, when the Dark Lord referred to you in his plan, he simply called you the Potter bitch..."

I felt Cho's hands grasp my forearms as I lunged towards the witch. I struggled against Cho for a moment longer before I settled back down.

The familiar witch laughed at my attempt to assault her. "Do it again!" she screeched in glee. "I dare you!"

"Belle," Hermione whispered in my ear. "She's not worth it! Bellatrix is just looking for any excuse to-"

"Bellatrix?" I shouted at the black haired witch. "Bellatrix Lestrange? You're related to Sirius aren't you?"

"Ha!" Bellatrix burst out. "The Noble House of Black disowned that mutt the second he stepped into Gryffindor!"

"Yes," I said calmly back to Bellatrix. "I had an impulse to do the same when young Harry was sorted in Gryffindor... Such a stupid house if you ask me..."

Bellatrix stopped mid-cackle, choking on her spit. I patiently waited for her to settle down as the information sunk in. "You're not a Gryffindor?" she asked in disbelief.

"Of course I'm not," I said while examining my nails. "A house based purely on bravery? What good is that?" I felt Hermione tense beside me so I patted her arm to comfort her.

"Now, now Hermione," I said with fake concern dripping off my voice. "You may be smart, but it's how you use your knowledge that really counts. Bravery isn't always the wise answer in difficult situation..."

Bellatrix stared at me, as though trying to piece together my story. "Then you're a Ravenclaw, correct? Surely the way you boast, you couldn't possibly be a Hufflepuff..."

"I'm a Slytherin," I stated firmly. "The best house there is. If I'm the best in the school, which I am, don't I deserve the best?"

"A Potter," Bellatrix said unbelievingly, "was placed in Slytherin?" She laughed. "Ha! Unlikely! You're only a half- blood! Slytherin would never-"

"And yet," I cut in, "Severus Snape, the head of Slytherin, is also a half-blood! As is another powerful wizard, the Dark Lord I believe is what you call him?"

"Crucio!" Bellatrix screeched, her wand pointing directly at my chest.

I immediately dropped to the ground. An iron claw was clenched around my heart and knives drove through my limbs. My head was spinning as axes sliced through my skull. Nails were dragging across chalkboards as millions of alarms screamed in my head.

"STOP IT! ENOUGH!" Cho shouted over the excruciating noise.

Seconds that felt like minutes later, the curse was lifted. I sucked in gulps of air, shaking slightly as I rose to my feet.

"You kn-know," I stuttered, still trying to catch my breath. "They teach valuable lessons in Slytherin, as I'm sure you remember."

"Get to the point, deary."

"One lesson I distinctly remember is..." I said to Bellatrix.

"...Never be defenseless."


	15. Chapter 14

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I keep forgetting to put this before chapters, so this statement goes along with every past and future chapter, including this one: JK Rowling owns everything Harry Potter related! I simply came up with a few characters of my own, but other than that it's all hers.

Also, if anyone can name the two movies/stories that inspired actions/lines in this chapter, extra points to you! One of the movies starred someone from the Harry Potter cast and the other was originally a book.

**Hermione****'****s****Point****of****View**

Annabelle ripped the wand out that was attached inside her sleeve. She pointed the tip straight at Bellatrix.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Bellatrix squealed with glee as Annabelle's wand shot straight into her empty left hand.

"You sneaky little Slytherin!" Bellatrix said with a mixture of awe and anger in her voice. "After all this time, you were hiding a second wand in your sleeve and then you tried to pull a fast one on me! Ha! Look who's defenseless now!"

Annabelle's shoulders slumped in defeat. Her last hope for escape was now gone.

"Put your hands behind your head!" Bellatrix screamed. "All of you!"

We immediately put our hands behind our heads in a surrender position.

"Well, well, well," Bellatrix said while examining Annabelle's wand. "This wand looks brand new! Maybe I should try it out a bit," she said with a smile. "You know, to break it in."

Bellatrix switched her own wand into her left hand and replaced it with Annabelle's wand.

"Now," Bellatrix looked us over. "Who to start with..."

I glanced nervously to my right, looking at Cho and Annabelle. As I looked to my companions, I noticed movement at Annabelle's feet. I quickly turned my head away from her to not give away my discovery. Using my peripherals, I could see a smooth green handle slowly climbing out of Annabelle's left sock, as if an invisible string was pulling it upwards.

"I would love to have another go at you, deary," Bellatrix said to Annabelle, bringing my attention back to the prowling witch in front of me. "However, the Dark Lord prefers that of the three, the Potter girl be the most unharmed, so I guess I will just have to settle with the Mudblood."

Bellatrix stood a few feet away from me, adjusting Annabelle's wand in her right hand excitedly. I closed my eyes, preparing to experience dreadful pain.

"Crucio!" she shrieked with her wand extended towards me.

My eyes snapped open after Bellatrix said the curse, surprised I felt no pain.

A loud POP echoed through the hall as the wand Bellatrix had aimed at me turned into a yellow rubber chicken.

"What the-" Bellatrix exclaimed while examining the chicken.

Annabelle lunged forward, bringing both hands down over her head hard into Bellatrix's left wrist, her Swiss army knife cutting a deep gash into Bellatrix's skin.

"AHHHHHH!" Bellatrix screamed in pain, dropping her wand to the ground.

I quickly pounced on the fallen wand as Annabelle withdrew her arms from Bellatrix's reach.

"Incarcerous!" I shouted pointing Bellatrix's wand at her.

Ropes immediately wound around the bleeding Bellatrix, who was raging with fury.

"YOU FILTHY LITTLE MUDB-"

"Silencio!" I screamed back.

Bellatrix immediately fell silent as she continued to struggle with her bonds.

"Who's defenseless now?" Annabelle teased as she walked forward and spat on Bellatrix. "I should be giving you the cruciatus right now, but you're lucky I'll settle for saliva."

"God bless your boyfriend for giving you a fake wand! That was a brilliant decoy!" Cho said enthusiastically to Annabelle.

"God bless your boyfriend for teaching me wandless magic!" Annabelle said turning towards me.

"And God bless your boyfriend for giving Belle a Swiss army knife for Christmas!" I said to Cho.

"Ahhh, boyfriends," Annabelle said flinging her arms around our shoulders. "Gotta love 'em."

She led the three of us away from the tangled witch as she nudged Cho. "Speaking of which, let's find yours, shall we?"

**George's****Point****of****View**

"Fred?" I called out as I entered the Burrow.

"Georgie!" Fred exclaimed as he raced down the stairs of the Burrow and tackled me with a hug. "I thought Umbridge might have tortured you to get information on me!"

"No, no," I assured Fred. "I'm fine."

"Well what are you doing back here then?"

"I left her quite the display in her office if I do say so myself." I smirked. "After she saw the swamp I created, I jumped on a broom and came back here."

"'Atta boy, Georgie!" Fred said as he ruffled my hair. "It's about time we left that hell hole, ain't it?"

"I was thinking exactly the same thing," I smiled. "It's time we start a business, don't you agree?"

"Yup," Fred said as he stared off into space. "I can picture it now! 'Weasley & Weasley Wizard Wheezes!'"

"Ahem," I cut in. "Let's not forget you're a fugitive. You can't run a store if you're a wanted criminal!"

"Right," Fred said with a nod. "Just Weasley Wizard Wheezes then?"

"Sure," I replied. "And I was thinking you could work behind the scenes on new projects and research, and I would run the store?"

"Yeah," Fred said with a sigh. "That's my only option now with this criminal record, isn't it?"

I waked over to Fred and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I won't let them take you to Azkaban! Don't worry, I'll find a way out of this," I said reassuringly. "I promise."

Fred smiled and patted me on my back. "Thanks, Georgie. It really means a lot to me that..." Fred faded off with a frown.

"What is it, Freddie?" I asked, curious as to where his train of thought was going.

Fred's eyes suddenly grew so large I thought they would pop out of his head.

"What is it?" I repeated. "What's wrong!"

"You- the- you promised to help," Fred stuttered. "You said you wouldn't let them take me to Azkaban, and that you would find a way out of it!"

"I meant what I said and I said what I meant! A brother is faithful one hundred percent!" I chuckled at my rhyme. "What's the big deal?"

"This is no laughing matter, George!" Fred shouted. "Don't you get it? You made a promise you couldn't keep!"

"I plan to work as hard as I can to keep it, Fred!" I shouted back. "And if I can't stop them from taking you to Azkaban then-"

"YOU DIE!" Fred yelled. "You made an unbreakable vow to never break a promise that you make with me! If I go to Azkaban, YOU'RE BREAKING THE UNBREAKABLE VOW!"

Fred's red face was the last thing I saw before blackness overcame me and I felt the cool tile hitting my bare cheek with a loud smack.

**Annabelle's****Point****of****View**

We were just headed off away from the Atrium when a loud voice hissed through the air.

"I found him!" the cold voice echoed through the building. "Come quickly!"

I watched as in unison all of the duels paused. Moments later, the death eaters shot off in the air in a merge of black, all heading in the direction I assumed Voldemort to be. Just as they had taken off, the Order took off, too, following the group of villains. Streaks of white light shot by me as the Order flew through the air.

I gripped Cho's hand beside me and held out my other arm. As soon as I felt something brush past my outstretched hand, I grasped the passing object, feeling a lurch in my stomach at the sudden movement.

Slowly I opened my eyes to see my feet suspended in air, the floor whipping past me. Cho hand was still grasped in mine, and her other arm was wrapped around Hermione's waist. I finally looked at the person that was flying us towards Voldemort.

"Remus!" I shouted over the wind whipping by us. "We need to come with you!"

Remus looked back at me and smiled. "In any other situation I would say it is far to dangerous, but after seeing you handle Bellatrix back there so beautifully..." Remus shrugged. "Right now, the Order will take all the help we can get."

I readjusted my one-armed grip on his torso as we shot down a small hallway. I looked back to see Cho closing her eyes in fear and Hermione absolutely green with nausea.

"Do you know where you're going?" I called to Remus over the noise.

"Right now I'm just following the rest of the Order," he said. "But I'm pretty sure I know where we're headed."

"Where?" I asked.

"The Department of Mysteries."


	16. Chapter 15

Harry's Point of View

I wandered down the eerily familiar corridor that led to the Department of Mysteries. Many times I had visited this area of the ministry, yet never had I ever left the comfort of my bed when doing so. I glided my hand over the cool smooth surface of the stone wall to clarify to myself that this wasn't another dream. Goosebumps ran up my arm as the chilly surface reached my fingertips. I returned my arm to my side and headed on towards the heavy door at the end of the hallway.

The door creaked open as I slid through the entrance. Orbs of faint blue light immediately swam into my vision as my eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. My sneakers squeaked in the silence as I padded forward, drawn to the many crystal spheres that filled the room. At a closer inspection, I realized letters were swirling around the orbs. I tried to make out words but as soon as I got close to reading one it would change into something else. I continued on to the next crystal on the shelf and found the same problem.

I closed my eyes as I tried to remember what happened in my dream.

As I looked into my mind, my eyes suddenly took on a lower perspective. My head swayed back and forth as I glided towards my destination. I passed rows and rows of shelves, not slowing down until I reached 97. I slowly raised my body off the ground, inch by inch until I was face to face with the fourth row. Inside the glass orb, I saw letters. I concentrated with my mind until I saw words forming. I was just starting to read the words forming when I was pulled back into reality.

I stumbled as I found my feet, realizing just then that in the dream I didn't have feet. I glanced at the nearest shelf, reading a number 2 on the ledge. I took off in a sprint to get to 97.

Once there, my eyes immediately sought out the fourth row. I looked from one glass sphere to the next, hoping to find words. About six orbs in, I stopped. The glass orb was no bigger than a bludger, and could easily fit into the palm of my hand. My heart stopped when I realized the only word floating in the orb was my name: Harry James Potter.

I lifted the orb to my face, inspecting the sphere more closely. I almost dropped the glass ball when a voice screeched into the air.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..." screamed the voice of Professor Trelawny. "...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..."

I stumbled back in shock as I realized the crystal was not only a prophecy, but also one that could end very tragically for me. Unfortunately, in my surprise, I bumped into the shelf behind me, hard. I paused for a moment, holding my breath in anticipation and fear. I waited one second, two seconds, three seconds, and finally let out the breath I was holding. My shoulders sagged forward in relief and I reached to wipe my sweaty brow.

I walked forward to return the prophecy when I felt a slight tug. I turned around to see a thread from my sweater was stuck on the shelf I slammed into. I gave a sharp tug before I realized what it was stuck on.

A watermelon-sized prophecy was slowing rolling forward from the pull I used to release the thread. I lunge forward to catch the sphere and in my haste tripped over my own feet. I just barely caught the prophecy as my body smashed to the ground and rolled forward. This impact was bigger than my first and caused the case to tilt.

I rose to my feet and jumped out of the way of the falling case. The prophecy case collided with the next case, which started to tip from its weight.

I watched in horror as the two cases slammed into a third case, the glass prophecies raining down to the floor. My hands flew to my ears as thousands of prophecies were screeched into air. My eyes followed in chilling awe the ten story high dominoes falling all the way down the row.

I chunk of glass flew through the air and pierced my cheek, waking me up from my shocked state. I turned and sprinted to what I thought was the exit. I threw open the door and lunged forward only to find the floor beneath my feet had disappeared. I flailed in the air before I plummeted hard onto stone concrete. I gasped in pain as I felt the bone in my right ankle snap. Tears of pain flooded my eyes as I bit hard on my lower lip. Through my blurry vision I saw a tall man with billowing forest green robes walk forward.

"Harry Potter," the chilling voice pierced through my throbbing ears. "Just the boy I wanted to see..."

**Hermione's Point of View**

Remus landed us gently in a dark round room next to the rest of the Order. The Death Eaters were huddled together on the opposite side of the room. I looked up at Remus in question to what we were supposed to do. He slowly held a hand up to me, telling me to wait. I took this time to analyze the room around me.

There was a great stone arc in the middle of the room that immediately caught my attention. It seemed as though there were runes carved around the structure, though I couldn't be sure from this distance. The archway was empty and was the only object in the room.

I turned to Annabelle beside me. "What do you think about that arc?"

She gazed thoughtfully at it for a few second before answering me. "It's obviously quite ancient, given what I assume to be runes are carved on it. Since it is the only structure in the room, I'm guessing it may be a memorial or have something to do with a ritual? The room is round, so I assume that has something do with the function of the arc. Maybe it is a ritual involving the moon or the sun? Now that I think of it though, there are no windows so that's probably not it. The hanging veil looks ceremonial so that-"

"Wait," I cut in. "What veil?"

Annabelle looked at me strangely. "What do you mean 'what veil?' there's only one veil I could be talking about..."

"I don't see it."

"Hanging from the beams," Annabelle said while pointing towards the arc. "Right there."

I squinted my eyes in hope that it would help me see the veil better. "Nope," I said. "Still don't see it."

Annabelle frowned in confusion. "Cho!" she whisper-shouted to the black-haired girl. "Look at the arc!" Annabelle pointed to the structure. "Please tell me you see a veil hanging from the beam!"

Cho stared at the arc for a good fifteen seconds before answering. "There's a veil?"

"Ugh!" Annabelle cried out, truly frustrated. "Remus!" Annabelle grabbed the arm of her ex-professor. "Look at the arc! What do you see?"

Remus, just like everyone before him, gazed at the arc for a few seconds before answering. "I see a tall stone arc with ancient runes. There's a gray shadowy fabric hanging from the upper beam. There are voices-"

"Yes!" Annabelle pumped her fist in the air. "He sees the veil and..." she drifted off. "You heard voices?"

Remus shifted nervously as we all stared at him curiously. "Well, yes," Remus answered. "I'm guessing it's the wolf instincts that allow me to hear it from such a distance..."

Annabelle started to walk towards the arc as if to examine it. She yelped when a blue light shot out and dragged her back to us.

"Stay back here, Potter!" Moody said while stuffing his wand back into his robe.

"Don't want them Death Eaters after ya' too early."

Annabelle returned to our small group with a frown on her face. I knew the feeling: being restricted from learning was torture.

Inspiration sparked over me and I quickly started digging in my small handbag. "Here!" I said to Annabelle as I shoved an extendable ear in her hand. "Use this!"

Joy lit up her face as she tossed one ear in the direction of the arc and held the other up to her real ear. After a moment, Annabelle shivered. "Here," she said, handing me the ear. "Listen to the voices."

I eagerly snatched up the ear and listened. After a moment or two I stopped. "I don't hear anything..."

Just as Annabelle was about to say something, a scream was heard from above. We all jumped back in horror as someone plummeted from the ceiling and crashed a foot from the arc. With a gasp I recognized the fallen person. The Death Eaters parted to reveal a tall, pale man with long robes. He approached the fallen boy curiously, before his face lit up.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort said loudly. "Just the boy I wanted to see..."

Immediately, the Death Eaters were on us. I was too focused on Harry to notice them creeping up.

Lucius grabbed me from behind as he stunned Cho. I flung me elbow into his stomach, temporarily knocking the wind out of him. I freed myself from his grasp but tripped as he shot ropes around my body. He did the same to Cho's limp form and levitated us behind him. I looked around and saw Moody being cornered by Dolohov and Nott. To my right, Goyle had an unconscious Tonks at his feet and was currently taking on Sirius. I looked around for Annabelle but only saw Crabbe dueling with Remus.

"ENOUGH!" Voldemort shouted and cast a silencio charm on the entire room. Immediately the fighting and noise stopped. Harry lay motionless at his feet. Voldemort slowly took his wand and made a glowing circle about twenty feet across around Harry and him. The circle looked just like the age line Dumbledore formed around the Goblet last year, but I doubt an age line was what Voldemort had formed. He cleared his throat slowly and starting walking around Harry, as if he was a wild animal hunting down his prey.

"Over the years," Voldemort said loudly. "I have discovered it takes a lot to kill Mr. Potter." Voldemort pointing his wand at Harry and said 'ennervate.' "Come on boy, stay with me a little longer, you need to hear how I'm going to kill you." When Harry sat up slowly, Voldemort continued. "Over the years, I have come to realize there are three necessary things to kill Mr. Potter. The first is his blood. His mudblood mother sacrificed herself so I need her blood, which is also in her children, to kill Harry Potter. The second item is a different wand. By chance or by destiny, our wands share the same core, a phoenix feather from the same bird. A different wand should prevent mishaps like priori incantatem from happening. And if, for some reason, a different wand doesn't prevent that from happening, you need a third thing, the stronger will. Your will to win needs to be stronger than his to beat priori incantatem." Voldemort paused. "So, to have all three, the blood, the wand and the will, I have decided that I will fight through the body of another person." Voldemort turned towards the Death Eaters. "Bella!" Voldemort called. "Bring out the weapon!"

I gasped in shock as I saw Bellatrix drag the weapon forward by the person's flaming scarlet hair.


	17. Chapter 16

**Sorry for the short chapter! I promise I will make up for it next chapter! And thanks to everyone who is sticking with this story, all the reviews make me want to write faster!**

**Annabelle's Point of View**

I cried out in pain as Bellatrix ripped me forward by my hair. I fell to my knees as she flung me into the glowing circle with Voldemort and Harry. I jumped to my feet and tried to escape the circle but an invisible boundary kept me inside.

"Ahha," Voldemort laughed. "It seems that Miss Potter has figured out the function of this duel circle. Anyone is allowed in, but no one is allowed out. Once you're in, you can not leave the circle until someone dies or the duel is finished. "

I stared at him in horror, knowing that Harry, Voldemort or I would have to be seriously hurt or dead before any of us could leave.

"Now," Voldemort said with a smile. He pointed his wand directly at me. "Let's start the duel."

Instantly, my mind was invaded with thousands of images. I could feel Voldemort's presence inside me. Memories flashed before my eyes, memories of Harry being asked for his autograph, memories of people in awe because of Harry. I felt my mind reel back as Voldemort dug further into my brain. Suddenly my view was somewhat blocked, as if I was hiding behind a door. I recognized the slotted white wood to be of Harry's closet. My view was from a shorter perspective, as if I was much younger.

"No," I whispered, realizing what memory Voldemort was finding.

The memory continued on and my vision focused in on a crib in the middle of the room. A little boy was seen sitting in the crib. Suddenly the door to the bedroom burst open and was immediately slammed shut. I watched in horror as my mother knelt before Harry, whispering words of comfort to him. She then turned towards me and quickly hurried over.

"Belle, dear," she whispered quietly. "You must promise me something, alright sweetie?"

"Sure, Mum," I whispered back. "Anything."

"Stay hidden!" she said urgently. "No matter what happens, do not come out of here!"

I nodded in agreement and she turned around to check back on Harry.

The door was blasted open, but from my view I could not see who entered the room.

"Give me the boy!" the intruder cried out. "I will let you live just give me your son!"

"No!" my mother cried out. "I will never let you have Harry!"

A green light shot out and my mother collapsed to the floor with a scream, dead.

Tears stung my eyes as Voldemort pulled from the memory and back into the present. I stared at Harry across the circle.

"Your innocent mother died because of your brother," Voldemort whispered into my mind. "It's his fault your mother is dead. Avenge your mother, Annabelle. Kill Harry Potter!"

My wand suddenly appeared in my hand; no doubt one of the Death Eaters had charmed it to me. I felt a force inside me raise my arm so it was pointed directly at Harry. I did nothing to stop the force.

'Crucio,' Voldemort whispered in my mind.

"Crucio!" I repeated, red light shooting out of my wand.

Harry stumbled backwards in shock but still managed to dodge the spell.

"Belle!" Harry shouted urgently. "Don't do this to me!"

Another red streak shot out of my wand, and then another and another. Harry jumped beside the stone arc, hiding himself from my view.

"Come out and fight!" Voldemort's voice roared out of my body.

"You fight me yourself, you bloody coward!" Harry yelled back, shooting a spell towards Voldemort.

Voldemort shot out a rope, snagged Harry's torso and dragged him back towards me.

"Kill him!" Voldemort ordered me.

A force once again raised my wand arm level with Harry.

'Avada Kedavra,' Voldemort whispered into my mind. 'Finish him!'

My mouth opened to form an 'a' sound but no words came out. The force inside me was literally pulling on my vocal chords, trying to get me to speak the deadly spell. My mouth was so dry I couldn't even whisper a word. I struggled with the force, momentarily choking on my tongue.

"No!" Sirius cried out, charging into the circle. "I won't let you die like this!" Sirius said as he flung his body in front of Harry.

"Don't interrupt the duel, Black!" Bellatrix screeched from her perch on a ledge outside the circle. "Avada Kedavra!"

Green light shot out of her wand and zoomed towards Sirius' chest. He stumbled back, tripping over Harry's foot just as the curse hit him. He fell backwards, falling gracefully into the veil behind him. However, instead of landing on the other side of the arc, he floated slowly upwards and disappeared in the air.

"NOOOO!" Harry screamed, racing towards the veil.

His manic screech woke me from the curse I was under and I stepped forward on my own will. The duel circle's light began to die down, signaling Sirius' defeat. Remus immediately jumped into the fading circle and grabbed Harry from behind, restricting him from following Sirius through the veil. Tears poured down Remus' face as he talked comforting words to Harry, urging him to restrain himself and show self control.

I quickly hurried back to put some distance between myself and Voldemort.

"Oh no you don't, sweetie!" Bellatrix screamed before shooting a silent spell at me, sending ropes around my body. I could feel the handle of my knife digging into my heel but with my hands tied securely above my head, escape wasn't an option.

Bellatrix levitated me in front of her, pushing me back towards the atrium.

"I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black!" Bellatrix sang as she skipped down the hall.

As we reached the atrium, I heard sneakers pounding on the tile floor behind us.

"CRUCIO!" Harry screamed as he raced towards Bellatrix.

Bellatrix fell to the ground in shock before springing back up to her feet. "Aww, widdle baby Potter, can't even do an Unforgivable properly! Ha!" She swung her wand towards me, still hanging motionless in midair.

"Let me show you how it's done, Potter!" Bellatrix spat. "You've got to mean them for them to work! Crucio!"

Unbelievable pain soared through my body. Imaginary knives cut through my lungs as blood stopped cold in my veins. I heard Bellatrix laugh as I cried out in pain.

"Stop!" Harry screamed. "I'll do anything! Just stop the curse!"

"Anything?" Voldemort said, materializing out of the air beside Bellatrix. "Bella, stop the curse, this young man wants to make a deal."

I gasped in gulps of air as Bellatrix lifted the curse. My fingers tingled as blood rushed through my body.

"Well, Harry," Voldemort said impatiently. "What are you offering to give? Answer me now or I'll murder your sister, right in front of your eyes..."

"Me," Harry said immediately. "I'll sacrifice myself if you let her go free."

My voice caught in my throat as I thought to argue with Harry. I suddenly recalled my conversation with Professor Snape earlier. "Until both the person and their soul are completely destroyed, they can not die," Snape's words haunted me. I then remembered the vision in the Mirror of Erised, Voldemort dead at my feet. Then the sorting hat's voice echoed in my mind. "Or perhaps in Slytherin you'll make your real friends, those cunning folks use any means to achieve their ends." My mouth clamped shut as I realized I would do anything to kill Voldemort, and letting my brother sacrifice himself for the cause would be included.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort shouted, pointing his wand straight at Harry.


	18. Chapter 17

**Annabelle's Point of View**

As soon as I saw the green light leave Voldemort's wand, I turned and ran down a nearby corridor. I still had memories of my mother dying and now Sirius, I didn't want to add my brother to that list also.

The Death Eaters' shouts behind me led me to believe that Voldemort had succeeded in finally killing my brother. Tears stung my eyes as I continued to run away from the atrium. At the end of the hallway I stopped to take a shaky breath.

'My brother is dead,' I thought. 'And because of me.' Guilt rushed through me in strong waves as I tried to compose myself. Sure, it had seemed easy to let my brother sacrifice himself on the way to Voldemort's defeat. However, now that the deed was done, I would do anything to make Harry alive again.

'Maybe he didn't die,' I thought hopefully. 'Should I check or just leave him be?' Curiosity got the better of me as I debated whether I should turn around and see Harry or not.

I slowly turned my body and looked down the long corridor leading to the atrium. I saw a group of Death Eaters huddled around someone on the floor.

'That must be Harry,' I thought glumly, knowing that Harry couldn't possibly still be alive. As I began to turn around again, something caught my eye. There was a large lump of something lying a little ways from the Death Eaters. My breath caught in my throat as I recognized the lump to be Harry.

I frowned, thinking that if that was Harry, then who is the person the Death Eaters were huddled around?

Hope coursed through me as I assumed it must be Voldemort, as I didn't see him anywhere else. 'Maybe the curse rebounded!' I thought to myself.

I didn't waste time to figure it out. I silently snuck forward unnoticed until I was fifteen feet away from Harry. I ducked behind a pillar to catch my breath and stop my pounding heart.

"Focus," I whispered aloud to myself.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I concentrated all my magic into my right hand. I then extended my hand in the direction of Harry's motionless body.

"Mobilicorpus."

Slowly Harry's body rose a few inches in the air. Once the whole body was off the ground, it began to creep towards my hiding spot behind the pillar.

I glanced up nervously to the group of Death Eaters, praying they wouldn't see me. Fortunately, they were all still huddled over the unconscious Voldemort lying on the ground.

When Harry's body was within my reach, I grabbed him and pulled him behind the pillar with me. I dug into his pocket and luckily found his wand and invisibility cloak. I immediately threw the cloak over us, hiding us from view. My shaky fingers reached down to his throat, looking for a sign of life. I sighed in relief as I felt a faint pulse. I then shrugged Harry's limp body over my shoulder and onto my back. I wasn't going to risk levitating him under the cloak because the cloak would rise up off the ground an expose my ankles. Slowly but surely I set off carrying Harry in the direction of the others in hope to find the Order.

**George's Point of View**

I scrunched my nose up in disgust as a horrid stench filled my nostrils. My eyes fluttered open as I gasped in a lungful of rotten air.

"Sorry," Fred muttered, removing his sock from underneath my nose. "It was the only thing I could think of."

I slowly sat up, cringing at my stiff neck. "Honestly, Fred?" I asked as I dug my fingertips into the tight muscles on my neck. "Are you a wizard or not?"

Fred blushed as he returned his sock to his right foot. "Right, sorry."

"Whatever, I'm over it," I said with a shrug. "There are more important things than fretting over the lack of foot hygiene that my brother tends to have."

"Yeah," Fred said, ignoring my comment about his smelly feet. "Important things like how we are going to keep you alive."

"Can you counteract an Unbreakable Vow?" I asked. "Maybe we could vow again and promise something else?"

"That's not how they work, Georgie," Fred said, shaking his head. "They're called 'Unbreakable' for a reason. Unfortunately, you had to go and break-"

"I didn't break it!" I cut in. "Well, not yet. All we have to do is ensure that you never go to Azkaban; that's all I promised."

"So what, I live as a hermit for the rest of my life, always hiding from the public?" Fred said red with fury.

"You know Umbridge will tear you apart!" I argued back. "It's the only option for you if you want to avoid Azkaban and let me live!"

Fred's shoulders slumped in defeat. "I guess you're right. We just have to be extra careful."

"And that we will be," I said reassuringly. "I have no plans of dying anytime soon so I will make sure you are properly hid."

"Alright," Fred said with a nod. "Well, we need a hiding place, don't we? And there's a nice little shop in Diagon Alley which will be just fine..."

"Done," I said while grabbing a piece if parchment and a quill. "Write down the address and I will go off and buy it today. We still have enough from Harry to put a down payment on the shop, and hopefully once we open up the profit from our products will help pay off the mortgage."

Fred scribbled the address down on the piece I gave him before grabbing a separate piece of paper. "You go buy the shop, I'll stay here and plan out the design and layout of everything."

"Sounds good," I said, pocketing the piece if parchment Fred handed to me. "Stay hidden and I will be back in a few hours."

**Annabelle's Point of View**

I was about halfway down the corridor when Harry woke up on my back.

"What...?" Harry said groggily.

"Shhhhhh!" I whispered urgently. "Don't freak out! Just stay quiet!"

Harry looked at me with confusion in his eyes. He raised an eyebrow in silent question, wondering why I was still carrying him. I cautiously lowered him to his feet, being careful not to have the invisibility cloak fall off us. Just as Harry's sneakers touched the ground, I heard a commotion behind us.

"Shit," I curse under my breath.

Harry and I looked back in horror as Voldemort rose to his feet in the middle of the Death Eaters. I heard Bellatrix squeal with anger when they all realized Harry and I had escaped.

"Harry," I whispered quietly. "What do we do?"

"Don't. Move." Harry ordered quietly through clenched teeth. "Where's my wand?"

I returned his wand to his hand before reaching down and removing the Swiss Army knife that was hidden deep within my sock. We held our weapons at ready in case the Death Eaters would discover and attack us.

Just as we were inching away, a flash of white shot by arm. I gasped as the sudden movement blew the invisibility cloak away from me and Harry.

"Accio cloak!" Harry whispered quickly. The cloak shot back to us but before we could put in on, we were spotted. All the Death Eaters turned to look at us standing frozen in the corridor with a cloak, a wand and a knife in our hands.

"Protego!" Harry screamed as I threw the cloak over us. Spells bounced off our shield as the Death Eaters shot curses at us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone behind the group of Death Eaters.

"Mad-Eye!" I exclaimed excitedly to Harry.

"Thank Merlin!" Harry said as he continued to block spells. "That also explains the flash of light that nearly turned us in!"

More flashes of light flew overhead and soon all the Death Eaters were engaged in a duel with someone in the Order. I stared in shock as Voldemort blocked a particularly nasty spell sent by none other than Dumbledore himself.

"When did Dumbledore get here?" I called to Harry over the noise.

"I don't know," Harry shrugged. "I've been 'dead' for a couple minutes haven't I?"

Guilt immediately hit me. "Listen, Harry," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry for everything. About Sirius and then you had to sacrifice yourself and-"

"About that," Harry said, peering at me curiously. "Do you know why I didn't die?"

I wanted to say yes, I think I know why you survived. I wanted to say that it was the part of Voldemort inside him that died, not his own soul. I wanted to say that he was a horcrux and that Voldemort actually just destroyed a part of himself by trying to kill Harry. I wanted to say that because he sacrificed himself we were now one step closer to killing Voldemort. I wanted to tell him how many other horcruxes there were and what objects they were. I wanted to tell him that I loved him, and though it was necessary to destroy the horcrux, it was not right for me to allow him to sacrifice himself to save me.

"No," I said quietly. "I have no idea."

Fortunately, Fudge and half of the Wizengamot arrived soon after the duels started. Voldemort and all the Death Eaters disappeared immediately and the Order answered all the Ministry's questions. Dumbledore was cleared of all charges and was asked to return to the position of Headmaster at Hogwarts. After accepting the job, he floo-ed Harry, Annabelle, Cho and I back to his office. He explained where he had gone in his absence and that he would be giving Harry private lessons the following school year. Later on, we discovered that those "lessons" would actually be Dumbledore aiding Harry on his defeat of Voldemort. In those lessons, Harry viewed many memories pertaining to Voldemort and learned about the horcruxes.

Through out the year, little mishaps occured every couple of weeks. There were attacks on the students; Ron Weasley was poisoned and Katie Bell was cursed. However, all those events seemed like nothing compared to what happened that spring.


	19. Chapter 18

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** So I'm not the biggest expert on this new SOPA thing, but if the worst happens and somehow this site is shut down (I honestly don't know what will happen) but check out my facebook page Don't Call Me Nymphadora and I will figure out a way to upload new chapters and finish this story.

And I don't know why, but this is my favorite chapter I have written, so let me know what you guys think? Thanks :)

**Annabelle's Point of View**

My hair flew behind me in a giant scarlet wave as I raced down the corridor. I wiped off the sweat that was starting to form on my forehead. As I ran up a stair case, I scrunched my toes to grip onto the silver ballet flats that were threatening to slip off my feet. After sprinting down one more corridor, I skidded to a halt in front of an old wooden door and banged my fist against the surface.

"Professor!" I shouted through the closed door. "I need to come in, it's urgent!"

After I heard a quick "come in," I barged through the door holding a stack of parchment in my hand.

"Sweet Salazar, someone better be on fire to have you rushing to my office at such an hour," Snape raised one eyebrow in concern, questioning my haste.

I was bent over with my hands on my knees trying to regain my breath. After a moment I held up the parchment for him to see. "Professor Slughorn's notes on Armotentia are vague. How are we supposed to know the antidotes to potions he has barely covered? I am so-"

Snape's baritone chuckle cut me off.

"Only you, Annabelle, only you..."

I stood back to my full height and placed my hands on my hips.

"And exactly what do you mean by that, Professor?"

Snape rose from behind his desk and grabbed the stack of parchments from my hand.

"What I mean by that is that only you would come sprinting to my office sounding as though there's this great catastrophe and yet only have a question about antidotes." Snape glanced at my notes in his hand. "Is this what this old coot is teaching you? Ha! As if that method would even be as effective as later theories..."

I sighed and flopped down into one of the overstuffed armchairs beside his desk.

"Professor," I whined. "Pleeeease help me with the antidotes! The N.E.W.T.s start tomorrow morning and I have to get an "O" in potions if I want to become a healer and Slughorn is not up to date with any of the new methods."

Snape ran his left hand through his hair as his shoulders sagged. He leaned against the edge of his desk and tossed my parchments down.

"Annabelle," Snape said with a sigh. "I would love to help you but-"

"But?" I cried desperately. "But what?"

"I'm busy tonight," Snape said, not meeting my eye.

"Busy?" I screeched. "Busy? Of all the nights you decide you suddenly are 'busy' it just so happens to be the night before your goddaughter is taking her N.E.W.T.s!" I stood up from behind the chair and began pacing angrily. "Do I have no one I can turn to anymore? Harry's always off with Dumbledore and George is too busy running his joke shop. Draco's been so distant lately doing only God knows what and Hermione has been spending all her free time mourning about how strange her boyfriend has been acting! And now you, the only intelligent person I have left that can help me pass my N.E.W.T.s, is busy!"

Snape stood up to his full height with a roar and threw the chair aside.

"YOU THINK I DON'T WANT TO HELP YOU? YOU THINK I DON'T WISH I WAS IN YOUR PLACE, KNOWING THE ONLY THING I HAD TO WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW WAS TAKING A BLOODY EXAM!"

Snape crossed the room in three strides until he was a foot away from me. He ripped up his left sleeve and shoved the Dark Mark in my face.

"See what I have to deal with every night? See whose orders I have to obey to every day! You think you can come in here, with a perfect average in potions may I add, and complain to me that I am not able to help you learn something you probably already know? Shut up and listen to yourself, Belle! You have the easy job here!"

We stood staring at each other for a couple of seconds. Snape's usually pale face was tinted red from anger. His chest rose rapidly as adrenaline ran through his veins.

"You're right," I said as I collapsed to the floor. I leaned my head against the bookcase behind me. "I had no right to be angry with you."

Snape sighed and slowly sat down on the floor next to me.

"It's alright, Annabelle. I overreacted, too."

"But why this year?" I asked Snape quietly. "Why did you have to teach Defense this year when that's the only class I don't even need to take?"

Snape laughed. "You think I like the timing any better than you? I've been trying to get this job for six years now..."

"I'm glad you were my potions teacher though," I cut in. "You were the one that convinced me to try and become a healer. Without you, I probably wouldn't have been so good at potions."

"That's not true," Snape said quietly. "You picked up that skill from your mother."

"I'm sure she picked it up from you," I said with a smile.

I still didn't know to the full extent my mother and Snape's childhood, besides the fact they were very close friends and were neighbors. Snape said he would tell me more about my mother eventually but now wasn't the time.

"I'm just so nervous for tomorrow," I said, breaking the comfortable silence. "Being a healer means so much to me that I don't want to screw it up."

"You'll do fine, trust me," Snape said in a comforting tone. "Unlike my day tomorrow, your's will be very easy..."

"What?" I snapped my head to fully face Snape. "Why is your day tomorrow not going to be easy?"

Snape was silent from a moment before glancing at his pocket watch. Upon seeing the time, his eyebrows rose to his hairline and he stood up quickly.

"Annabelle," Snape said. "I don't want to end this little meeting like this but I really must go."

"Don't change the subject!" I replied, getting to my feet. "What's going to happen tomorrow?"

Snape grabbed his cloak from where it was hanging by the door. "It's not so much tomorrow that will be the hard part, but today. But really, Belle, I must be going."

"Wait!" I shouted, stepping between Snape and the door. "Where are you going? Can I help?"

"No!" Snape said immediately. "I'm sorry, I can not tell you..."

"SEVERUS SNAPE! TELL ME!"

Snape looked at me curiously before a slight smirk appeared on his mouth. "Did I give you permission to call me Severus?"

I crossed my arms and raised one eyebrow. "Did I give you permission to call me Belle?"

Snape's smirk grew into a grin. "Touché, Miss. Potter, touché. I'm glad that if you didn't learn anything else from me you at least picked up on my Slytherin tactics..."

"I'm a Slytherin, Professor, and that also means I will do anything to achieve my ends."

Snape stared into my eyes for what seemed like forever. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course," I answered immediately.

He ran his fingers through my scarlet hair, as if he would be seeing it for the last time.

"Then goodbye, Annabelle, until we meet again..."

He pushed by me and exited down the hall at a fast pace, never once turning back. I felt tears of confusion and hurt fill my eyes. I made a quick decision and quietly crept behind him unnoticed, never losing him from my sight.

**Hermione's Point of View**

"There's no way I am drinking that potion!"

I furiously shook my head at Ron's outstretched arm that was offering a small vial to me.

"But Hermione," Ginny argued. "You know that Harry is-"

"Yes, I'm fully aware that Harry is on a mission with Dumbledore tonight," I replied to Ginny. "But that does NOT mean my boyfriend is a Death Eater and will attack the castle tonight!" I crossed my arms defiantly across my chest and glared at the two red heads in front of me.

"Mione," Ron said softly. "It's ok if you don't believe Draco is a Death Eater, but for Harry's sake, please, just drink the potion. If something were to happen to him tonight..." Ron trailed off, hoping to let the guilt of something possibly happening to my best friend set in.

"Harry's with Dumbledore," I reminded Ron. "He'll be safe so I shouldn't just take the potion 'for his sake.' If anything, I should save the potion for him to use later when he really needs it."

"But Mione," Ron said while holding the vial up for me to see. "There's one sip left. That'll only last about an hour or two so there's really no point in saving it."

I chewed my bottom lip as I went over the consequences of drinking the vial. "Oh, alright," I said as I grabbed the small vial from Ron's hand. I swigged down the last sip that they left me and immediately felt the potion's power take place.

"I feel great," I said with a wide grin.

"I know," Ron said enthusiastically. "Don't you just feel like you can do anything?"

"Yeah," I said standing up. "I think I'm going to go see Draco."

Ron glanced nervously at Ginny before standing beside me. "Uhh, Mione," Ron said hesitantly. "Maybe you should just stay here..."

I could feel anger bubbling up inside me. "And do tell, Ronald Weasley, why you think I shouldn't go visit my boyfriend?"

Ron struggled to find the correct response to my question. "Well," he started. "I fear you may not like to find out Ginny and my suspicions about Draco are correct..."

"You're wrong!" I yelled at Ron. "Draco is not a Death Eater! Death Eaters believe in world domination and pureblood status, and Draco-" tears flooded my eyes as I defended my boyfriend. "And Draco loves me! Even though I'm just another mudblood to some purebloods, Draco Malfoy still loves me! He can't possibly be a Death Eater!"

I collapsed to the floor, hugging my knees and sobbing. I wouldn't admit it to Ron, but I had my suspicions about Draco, too. The fact that he wouldn't tell his girlfriend where he was always going and why he was miserable all the time, I knew that something was up. I just didn't want to face the fact that Draco very likely could be a Death Eater and that our whole relationship was a joke to him.

I wiped my dripping eyes on the sleeve of my shirt and stood up on shaky legs. "I need to find out the truth," I told Ron and Ginny. "I'm Hermione Jean Granger, dammit! And I need to have all the answers!"

I grabbed my wand from where I left it on the couch and stormed angrily to the common room door.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted from behind me. "Don't go!"

I ignored him and wrenched open the portrait door. Suddenly I felt an invisible force grab my ankle and pull me into the air until I was completely upside down.

"What-who-" I stuttered before looking at Ron's guilty expression. "Since when do _you_ know non-verbal magic?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "Harry taught me a spell from that book of his."

"You used a spell from that awful book on ME?" I yelled angrily. "Didn't you see what one of the spells did to Draco?" I shuddered just remembering Draco's limp, bloody body in the hospital wing as he healed from Harry's curse.

"Whatever," Ron said. "I knew this spell was safe."

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY. PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW OR I'LL-"

"Expelliarmus!" Ginny shouted from beside Ron, and I felt my wand fly out of my hand and into hers.

I stared at them in shock, not believing the two Weasleys would gang up on me. They stared back, not ashamed of their actions. I sighed, admitting defeat against the two redheads below me.

"You should just be lucky I switched out of my skirt and into jeans," I gestured toward my upside down body. "Otherwise you might have gotten quite the view..."

Ron smirked at my comment. "Death Eater or not, I'm pretty sure Draco would kill me."


	20. Chapter 19

**Annabelle's Point of View**

I slowly climbed up the long and winding staircase, being careful to keep Snape in my view yet still be hidden from his. I was sure he was heading to a tower, but from all the secret passageways he took I couldn't figure out where we were. As I continued to climb the stairs, I suddenly remembered the last time I was climbing the towers' many staircases at night. It was with Cho and Draco as we headed to find our dates for the Yule Ball. I couldn't help but smile as I remembered how nervous we had all been. That had been such a simpler time than this. To think that I was nervous about who my date for the Yule Ball would be, when now I was stalking a Death-Eater spy who was up to who knows what.

A blast of cold air hit me as I reached the top step. I corrected my assumption that this was the place where I met my date last year, the North Tower. From the huge open balcony on the floor above me, I could now see we were in the Astronomy Tower. I quickly looked around to see where Snape went and unfortunately found that I lost him.

"Just perfect," I whispered sarcastically.

I was just about to give up and go back to my dormitory when I heard footsteps on the stairs. I quickly tiptoed across the little room and hid in the shadows.

I sighed in relief as I saw Draco's familiar pale body leap up the last step. I was just about to make my presence known when behind him a witch ascended the final step.

Although I had only seen her once, I would never forget that unruly black hair. Her cackle to Draco made my blood run cold as I remembered the Cruciatus Curse she had used on me last year. The witch gleefully skipped forward as another wizard shuffled into the room. The hairy scarred flesh of his skin immediately led me to his identity: Fenir Greyback.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I saw Draco quietly conversing with the werewolf. What was Draco doing with these awful people, these murderers, these ... Death Eaters?

Realization slapped me across the face. Draco was a Death Eater. Draco Malfoy, one of my best friends, was a Death Eater. Harry suspected he may be one at the start of the year, but I ignored him, thinking Draco would tell me if that was true. I mean, we were in the same House, we were on the same Quidditch team! I watched him change into his uniform for Merlin's sake! How did I miss the big Dark Mark, plastered onto his forearm? How did Hermione, his girlfriend for over a year now, miss that also?

My thoughts returned to the room as Bellatrix strolled around.

"Oh, how long it's been," Bellatrix said longily. "Since I've been here; since I've set something on fire..."

A little twisted smile crossed her face as she walked dangerously close to where I was hidden. I sucked in my stomach, hoping to disappear into the wall behind me.

"Draco, dear," Bellatrix called across the room. "Are you a bit... chilly?"

Draco paused in his conversation with Greyback and looked at Bellatrix curiously before answering. "Yes, it is quite- NO! NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! You are NOT setting this place on fire, Auntie Bella! This is my mission and I will not allow you to ruin it with your games!"

Bellatrix's shoulders slumped forward as she lowered her wand and rolled her eyes. "Fine, but if all goes well, expect to see flames."

"Alright, whatever," Draco said, waving his hand at Bellatrix. "But be quiet, I think I heard something."

I held my breath as I heard a great whooshing of air on the floor above us, followed by something landing softly on the floor above us.

"It's alright, Professor, I got you," Harry's muffled voice wafted through the floor boards above us. From the Death Eaters' calm expressions, I could tell that had not recognized Harry's voice and only knew that someone was definitely on the floor above us. I looked up at the ceiling and through a crack I could see my brother kneeling next to umbledore, who was lying on the ground.

My eyes widened in shock as I realized why the Death Eaters were here. Draco confidently walked over to the staircase attached to the upper level and began to climb the stairs; Bellatrix and Greyback followed closely at his heels.

As soon as they were out of sight I jumped from my hiding spot and started toward the staircase they had just used. My foot was on the bottom step when I felt a strong hand on my back.

I whirled around, wand at the ready, and faced the person. My face lit up in joy as I recognized the familiar face.

Snape slowly brought a finger to his lips, requesting my silence. He motioned for me to stay on this level as he began to ascend the staircase. As soon as he was out of my sight, I rushed to the far wall where I previously hid. I looked up through the crack and saw Draco, tears streaming down his face, standing in front of a hunched over Dumbledore.

"You don't understand!" Draco screamed. "I have to do this! I have to kill you! Or he'll kill me!"

"Do the spell, Draco!" Bellatrix whispered from her position behind Draco. "Do it now!"

"Stop," Snape said calmly as he strode into the room. I held my breath as the Death Eaters turned to watch him. Bellatrix broke out in a huge crooked grin as her eyes followed Snape's form that glided across the room.

"Severus," Dumbledore said, as if he was pleading. "Please."

I watched in shock as my godfather raised his black wand until it was level with Dumbledore. Snape was my professor, my mentor, my friend. I looked at him as I used to look at my father; I could trust him to help me in a time of need. Surely I wasn't about to see him murder the headmaster, right?

**Harry's Point of View**

I stood underneath the invisibility cloak, frozen in shock and from Dumbledore's spell.

I looked at Dumbledore's pleading form at the edge of the tower. I watched in terror as Snape raised his black wand until it was level with the Headmaster. Dumbledore was my professor, my mentor, my friend. I looked at him as I used to look at my father; I could trust him to help me in a time of need. Surely I wasn't about to see him be murdered by the Head of Slytherin, right?

Green light shot out of Snape's wand and Dumbledore toppled over the ledge. I heard a sickening thud as his body landed on the ground below.

My unfrozen body stumbled forward in surprise and grief, still hidden by the invisibility cloak. I watched Snape forcefully grab Draco, who was standing nearby, by the collar and drag him down the staircase. Bellatrix jumped up and down and giggled, and excitedy turned to Greyback.

"How about about a campfire, hmmm? And I know just what would be perfect kindling..."

**Draco's Point of View**

I hurried along behind Snape, looking around nervously.

"Professor," I called ahead. "What about the other students? I guarantee all those bloody gryffindors will see the Dark Mark and think it's there duty to fight."

"I'm sure they're all in bed by now," Snape replied as he rushed down another staircase. "And you can call me Severus. I just murdered the Headmaster for you. We're there; we've reached that point."

"Alright, Severus," I said with a nod. "But how will we know that the other students will stay in their Houses?" I said while looking down corridors and other staircases as we passed them. "How will I know Hermione is-"

I was cut off as I stepped on the back of Snape's cape and slammed forcefully into his back as he was stopped short. I jumped off the cloak and looked nervously into his eyes.

"Don't... Step... On... My... Cloak."

"Sorry!" I apologized. "It won't happen again!" Snape turned back around and continued on. I shivered once he was facing forward again, not wanting him to know how intimidated I actually was of him. We maybe be working together on this mission for Voldemort, but I still looked up to him and was constantly fighting for his approval.

"Draco," Snape called over his shoulder. "You know that Potter was underneath the invisibility cloak, correct? And that Annabelle was a floor below?"

"What?" I asked surprised. "They- they saw me- saw us?"

Snape nodded as he turned a corner and pushed aside a tapestry. He disappeared behind it and I followed suit. We silently descended the tiny hidden staircase for a minute or so.

"What does that mean, then?" I asked breaking the silence. "What will happen to us?"

"You," Snape started, "will definitely have to go into hiding. That means no communication with anyone that is not in Voldemort's inner circle. Chances are you will probably just stay at the Manor."

I slowed my pace as this information sunk in. "But how will I tell Hermione where I've been? With Dumbledore dead and me in hiding, she's going to assume I'm a Death Eater!"

"But Draco," Snape cut in. "You ARE a Death Eater..."

"Yeah, but not a REAL one. Not by MY choice."

"Yes, but it's better she doesn't know it's all an act," Snape said as we passed the Great Hall. "You know Potter will tell her he saw the Dark Mark on your arm, and then the whole bloody Golden Trio and Order will know."

"Speaking of the Order," I said. "Now that you killed Dumbledore, I assume you won't be able to go back? What will Annabelle think?"

I knew of the close friendship that appeared between Belle and Snape, and was curious to know if Annabelle would ever know of Snape's true allegiance.

"I talked to her tonight," Snape said with a sigh. "She said she trusted me, but that was before I killed her Headmaster."

We descended the stone steps of the castle in silent. Once my feet hit the dewy grass, I called ahead to Snape.

"Can you do me a favor? Please?"

Snape looked over his shoulder and raised both his eyebrows. "Considering I just killed Dumbledore for you, do you really think it's fair to ask me for another favor?"

"Please, Severus! Just- just tell Hermione about my true allegiance! I can't stay in hiding knowing that she doesn't trust me anymore! Please!"

Snape slowed his pace as we neared Hagrid's hut. He came to a full stop as we saw Bellatrix jumping around the hut, which was on fire. She laughed as she shot more fire from her wand.

"Oh, dear Merlin," Snape said rolling his eyes. He glanced once more at Bellatrix to make sure she was preoccupied before turning to me.

"Draco," he said softly. "As intelligent as Miss Granger is, she does not know occlumency. If I were to tell her about your true allegiance, it's possible Voldemort would capture her, invade her mind and find out the truth. He would then kill you and probably me along with Miss Granger. So for her sake and for mine, please just lay low, alright?"

My shoulders slumped forward in defeat. "Fine, but the second this bloody war is over, I'm finding her and telling her everything."

Snape nodded. "Fair enough, but let me warn you..." Snape faded off as he looked over his shoulder in the direction of the castle. "Oh gods, you've got to be joking me..."

I turned around to see Potter sprinting across the dark lawn, his wand held in front of him.

"SNAPE, HE TRUSTED YOU!"

I had to hold back a smirk. "He's really not that bright, is he?"

Snape rolled his eyes. "He's just like his father, bravery and no brains. Now go, run to the main gates and disapparate to the Manor. I'll take care of the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Make-My-Life-Miserable." Snape pushed me into the direction of the gates and turned to face Potter. I was halfway there when I heard a female shout behind me.

"No!" Annabelle cried, as she raced toward Harry and Snape. "Don't touch him!"

Harry shot a spell at Snape who easily deflected it with a sneer.

"Stop!" Annabelle shouted as she continued to advance toward the pair. "Don't hurt him!"

"I couldn't if I wanted to! He's the Dark Lord's man to kill!" Snape scowled back at Annabelle.

"Crucio!" Harry cried, pointing his wand at Snape, who once again easily deflected the curse.

By this time, Annabelle had reached them and forcefully lowered Harry's wand arm.

"Didn't you hear what I said, you bloody idiot? Don't hurt him!"

I stared across the field at Annabelle, truly shocked. Snape and Harry stood completely still, complete surprise written on both of their faces.

"WHAT?" Harry yelled in Annabelle's face. "You are scolding ME for trying to avenge Dumbledore's death by torturing this murderer?"

"Harry James Potter, I swear to Merlin if you even lay a finger on him I will make you wish you were never born!"

Snape remained silent and looked completely flabbergasted.

"We are going to turn around, and walk straight back up to the castle and locate Dumbledore's body, alright?" Annabelle said in a softer tone. "C'mon, this isn't our fight right now."

Harry stared Snape down, reluctant to go.

"Listen to you sister, Potter," Snape mocked. "Do you really think you have a fighting chance against me, your Defense Professor who is also a Death Eater?"

"SECTUMSEMPRA!" Harry shouted at Snape.

Snape deflected the spell with a swift wave of his wand and covered the distance between himself and the Potters in six long strides.

"You dare use my own spells against me, Potter?" Snape growled in Harry's face. "You're just like your father! Taking things that aren't... yours... to... take." Snape glanced to Annabelle for a moment before returning his gaze back to the younger Potter.

"Don't say a word against my father!" Harry spat.

Snape ignored this comment with a roll of his eyes before focusing his attention on Annabelle.

"Why, Miss Potter," Annabelle glared at Snape at his unfamiliar use of her surname. "Don't you have NEWT's you should be studying for?"

Annabelle's eyes doubled in size before she grabbed Harry's sleeve and tugged him toward the castle.

"Let's go; it's been a long night. Remember: those who fight and run away, live to fight another day."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I just want to say that Draco stepping on Snape's cloak is a true story! Tom Felton said in an interview that the director told the Death Eaters to follow closely behind Alan Rickman and not look down. Alan specifically told everyone following to not step on his cloak. On the second take, Tom Felton dug his heel well into the back of the cloak (on accident of course ;) and Alan's head shot back from the sudden stop. I figured I would add this bit into my story when I came across the interview ;) Let me know your thoughts! Also- earlier, I said that 2 movies inspired the chapter from the Ministry when Annabelle and the others escape Bellatrix. One movie was Die Hard; Annabelle appeared to have surrendered but really had a weapon behind her back and could attack the "villain" when least expected. Alan Rickman played Hans Gruber and the main character used this technique as a surprise attack against him. The other movie that inspired me was Horton Hears a Who, only because George says the line "I meant what I said and I said what I meant, a brother is faithful 100 percent" or something along those lines. Horton said something similar but an elephant, not a brother, was faithful.

I just want to thank everyone that is sticking with this story! I hope you'll all stick with it to the end because I really like the ending I have in mind! Post comments or private message me- I love hearing feedback! Thanks and I'll update a new chapter soon!


	21. Chapter 20

**Annabelle's Point of View**

We slowly walked back up to the castle, not looking back at the Death Eaters. Harry remained silent beside me and because of the darkness I was unable to read his facial expressions. After a minute or so we reached the castle and we both paused mid-step as we saw a white form lying near the castle's edge.

"Oh no," I whispered as Harry ran in front of me towards the motionless form.

Harry cried out as he threw himself on top of Dumbledore's body, shaking with tears.

I ran up beside him and knelt next to the pale face of the Headmaster. Harry continued to cry as he grabbed Dumbledore's wrist, searching for a pulse. I rubbed Harry's back in comfort as he found no sign of life. Silently, Harry open Dumbledore's hand what he was holding and removed an item from the frail fist.

"The locket!" Harry whispered in awe as he held the item up to his eye to inspect. He hurriedly dug his fingers into the crease of the metal and tug the locket open.

"Lumos," I whispered, pointing my wand in the direction of the locket.

Harry pulled out a tiny note from inside the locket and began to read.

"To the Dark Lord, I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. Signed R. A. B."

Harry crumpled up the note in fury. "IT'S A FAKE?" he shouted in disbelief and anger as stood up and extracted his wand. "This is YOUR fault, Annabelle!"

"Me?" I yelled as I rose angrily to my feet. "How the hell is this _my_ fault?"

"If you just let me get Snape he would have been able to give us the real locket!"

"SNAPE DOESN'T HAVE THE LOCKET!" I cried. "If he did, don't you think he would've just given Dumbledore the locket in the first place?"

"SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE!" He shouted, pointing at the dead Headmaster at our feet. "WHY WOULD SNAPE GIVE HIM A HORCRUX AND BETRAY HIS MASTER!"

"DUMBLEDORE IS HIS MASTER!" I defended my godfather.

"THEN WHY DID HE JUST KILL HIM?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" I shouted, tears now pouring down my face. "All I know is the Snape is faithful to Dumbledore, not Voldemort!"

"Why the hell would you think that?" Harry said as he pointed his wand at me. "What do you know that I don't know? What have you been hiding from me?"

I pulled my wand out of my pocket and pointed it at my brother. "I-I can't tell you..."

Harry shot a jelly-legs jinx at me but I easily deflected it.

"C'mon, Belle! Tell me!"

"Tarantallegra!"

Harry began to ferociously tap dance as the jinx I sent his way hit him.

"Really, Belle?" Harry cried out as he did a little spin. "Why can't you just tell me?"

"I physically can't; I took an Unbreakable."

He frowned as he tapped his feet rhythmically and swayed his arms back and forth. "With who?"

I shook my head. "Can't tell you that either."

Suddenly the castle door opened to our right and Professor McGonagall appeared.

"Oh dear Godric! What is going on?"

She looked from Harry's dancing form to me standing guiltily to the side with my wand pointed at my brother.

"Explain," she ordered.

I muttered the counter curse and Harry stopped dancing. We both stared at her silently, not knowing where to start.

"Well?" McGonagall said after a moment.

Harry immediately burst into tears again and dropped to his knees beside Dumbledore.

"Professor," he cried. "The Headmaster, he's-he's been-" Harry was cut off as another sob emitted from his throat.

McGonagall paled and her eyes widened as she took in the Headmaster lying next to Harry.

"No," she said disbelievingly as she dropped to her knees beside Harry, a single tear escaping her eye. "How...?"

"Professor Snape," I answered her as my eyes flooded with tears. "With Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenir Greyback and Draco Malfoy."

McGonagall choked out a sob as she heard the name of her student. "That poor boy..."

She looked up into the sky, and upon seeing the Dark Mark, immediately sent up streaks of light. I did the same and eventually Harry joined in also.

All the light must have awakened the rest of the castle because before I knew it, we were no longer alone. Instead, a majority of the school and the staff silently surrounded us, all sending light up into the sky.

I looked down at the motionless Headmaster beside me. Somehow I knew this was just the beginning to a long line of deaths. Somehow I knew that Hogwarts would face worse catastrophes than the murder of the Headmaster. Somehow I knew that more tears would be shed in the near future.

Somehow I knew that this was the start of war.

**Harry's Point of View**

The next morning I returned to the Astronomy Tower. I sat down near the balcony and looked over Hogwarts' grounds. I was amazed that it could still look so beautiful despite the tragedy that occurred last night.

I don't know how much time passed before someone entered the room. I turned my head to see Hermione slowly walk into the room and sit beside me. Ron followed silently and sat on the floor nearby. We sat like that for quite some time before I spoke up.

"I'm not coming back," I said to no one in particular.

"What do you mean, mate?" Ron asked from his spot on the floor.

"Charms, potions, astronomy, all that means nothing to me if there are still horcruxes out there." I stood up and began pacing the tiny room. "I'm not finishing my schooling. Well, at least not right away. My main priority is killing Voldemort and to do so as soon as possible."

"We'll help," Hermione said rising to her feet after getting an affirmative nod from Ron. "We won't let you do this alone."

"But I have to do it alone," I argued. "It's my duty."

"And it's our duty to help out our best mate," Ron said as he joined Hermione's side. "Like it or not, it's not just going to be you versus Voldemort in the end; you're going to need our help."

"It's going to be dangerous," I countered. "Hunting for horcruxes will be a miserable and tedious journey and I'm-"

"Going to need my help," Hermione smiled. "Our help."

"But your schooling, Hermione," I said softly. "You've been dreaming about becoming Head Girl since you were a first year."

"I could always go back," she shrugged. "There's nothing stopping me from getting a private tutor later on."

I struggled to find another argument, trying to assure my friends that they shouldn't come along with me. Ron walked forward and slung his arm around me.

"We'll do this," he said firmly. "Together."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Ok, I apologize for this short, terrible chapter. It's more of a transition chapter into the next part of the story than anything, so it needed to be done. Bear with me because I have some great plans for the upcoming chapter :) Thanks for everyone sticking with this story- I really appreciate the reviews and PM's! If you have any questions feel free to private message me or leave a review.


	22. Chapter 21

**Annabelle's Point of View**

I silently crept along the edge of the crowded tunnel. I made sure to keep my head down and I never stopped moving. I wrapped George's old oversized cloak tighter around me with one hand as I pushed my trolley with the other hand. As I turned the corner, a rush of wind had strands of my hair tumbling out of the cloak's hood. I hurriedly shoved the fly-aways behind my ear and kept going.

I rushed past the small crowd that had gathered between platforms nine and ten and didn't stop until I had reached platform twelve. I tapped the figure waiting for me beneath the sign and she turned around.

"Hey Cho," I greeted with a smile. "Sorry I'm late."

"No worries," she said as she embraced me in a hug. "It's good to see you again."

"You, too." I glanced over my shoulder nervously before turning back to Cho. "Where are Neville and Luna? Ginny said she would save us seats, right?"

Cho nodded. "Yeah, Ginny's already in a compartment way in the back. Luna wondered off chasing a blubbering hindinger or whatever it is that she is so fond of. Neville went with her to make sure she would be back in time."

"Ok, good," I said with a nod. "Neville's responsible enough to manage that." I looked around the platform. "Where is the luggage?"

"Oh, we already put it in the compartment with Ginny; we had time to kill."

"Is that where you luggage is, too?"

"No," Cho shook her head. "The staff can send their luggage ahead if they want. Even though I decided to take the train in, I figured it would be easier to transport all of my books that way."

"All of your books? How many books does a Charms tutor need?"

"Professor Flitwick also wanted me to bring some books about Hogwarts since I would be his apprentice, too. And considering I will tutor years 1-7, I needed seven years worth of charm books."

I nodded and checked my watch. "Neville and Luna better hurry up or they are going to miss the train!"

Cho looked around the train station nervously. "Shouldn't you head on the train now? I mean, the last thing we need is someone catching you sneak on..."

"Yeah, I guess maybe you're right. Even though I think the last place Death Eaters would think to look for me was the Hogwarts Express considering I graduated last year."

"True," Cho said, "but considering you got perfect grades on all the NEWTs you needed to take to become a Healer, wouldn't it look suspicious that you hadn't started you're Healer training yet?"

"Yeah, maybe you're right," I said as I walked toward platform ten. "Let's get on the train now."

"Guys!" Neville whisper-shouted as he ran up to me and Cho. "Luna's gone!"

"You lost her?" Cho cried incredulously.

"No," Neville said as he furiously shook his head. "Two Death Eaters ran up and took her! I tried to fight them but they outnumbered and disarmed me! By the time I got my wand back they had disappeared!"

"Oh my gods," Cho whispered in disbelief.

A bell chimed through the station and we all snapped our heads to look at the clock.

"It's eleven!" I shouted urgently as I grabbed my luggage and shoved Neville and Cho through the wall between platforms nine and ten.

The red train was just starting to inch forward as we ran to the nearest door. We jumped on the train and sighed in relief as waving families smiled through the windows.

Silently we walked towards the back of the train to the compartment Ginny saved us. I made sure not to make eye contact with anyone or look in the other compartments.

When we entered the last compartment, I heaved my luggage onto the rack. Neville retold the story of Luna's capture to Ginny.

"This is all I got before she was taken away," Neville said solemnly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out Luna's vibrant glasses. "She told me to look for blibbering humdingers."

"That's what they're called!" Cho said with a smile.

"Let me see them," I said to Neville as I held out my hand. He gave me the spectroscopes and I put them on.

"Gosh, Belle," Ginny said amusedly. "With that huge cloak on and your hair hidden, I can't even tell if it's you or Luna!"

"No," Neville said with a frown. "Your clothes are too normal to be Luna."

Cho stood up and pulled down Luna's luggage from the rack. She opened the trunk

and pulled out a funky skirt.

"Should we really be going through all of Luna's stuff?" Ginny asked anxiously.

Cho shrugged. "I feel like she would've wanted us to use her stuff if it would help us."

"Yeah," Neville said with a nod. "Annabelle could definitely use some of her clothing as a disguise."

"Here," Cho said, giving me the skirt. "Put this on!"

I slid the yellow skirt over my pants and posed.

"Hmm," Ginny said tapping her chin. "Not quite..."

She got up and dug through Luna's luggage before pulling out a pair of grungy sneakers.

"Try these!"

I slid my shoes off and stuck my foot in Luna's left sneaker. "Sheesh, this girl has big feet." I put the other one on as Neville pulled a small bag out of the trunk.

"Her jewelry?" Neville said as he handed me the bag. I opened the small bag to find that Neville was right, although the bag also contained several other items besides jewelry.

I reached in the bag and pulled out two huge orange earrings and a necklace that had bottle-caps strung on it. I put on the jewelry and a purple sweater Ginny had found in the trunk. I turned towards the group with my hands on my hips.

"Well?"

Cho smiled. "I think we just found out how you're going to sneak into the school. Now, come here, Luna, let me do something about your hair..."

Cho removed my glasses and took out her wand. She took a chunk of my hair and twirled it fully around her wand. She muttered a heating charm and her wand glowed red. She let go of the chunk of my hair which was now perfectly curled and started on another strand.

"There's gotta be a color charm in here somewhere..." Ginny said to herself as she pulled her charms book out of her trunk.

"Try chapter seven," Cho said from her place behind me. "There's a page on hair charms in that section."

Ginny flipped forward to chapter seven and started flipping through the section. "Found it."

Ginny stood beside Cho who was still curling my hair. Neville held up a hand mirror for me so I could see what Ginny was doing. Ginny placed the tip of her wand at the top of my scalp and said the charm. I watched in awe as blonde color seeped through my scarlet hair as if an egg had been cracked on my head. After a few seconds, my whole head had gone from bright scarlet to light blonde.

"Wow," I said in amazement, still looking at my hair in my reflection.

"Done," Cho said as she finished curling the last chunk. I stood up so everyone could get a good look at me.

"Hmmm..." Ginny said as she gazed thoughtfully at me. "Something seems off..."

"Do you think it's just because we personally know Luna so it's hard to compare Belle to her?" Cho asked.

"It's the eyes," Neville answered. "Your eyes are too bright, too green, too... Potter."

"Put these back on," Ginny said, handing me Luna's spectroscopes. "And keep them on."

I put the glasses on and sat down next to Cho. "Better?"

"Yes," Cho smiled.

Our compartment door slid open and the trolley lady peered in. "Anything I can get for you, dears?"

"I'll take a few chocolate frogs," Neville said as he dug in his pocket for money.

"Here you go," the lady said as she handed Neville his candy. "Anything for you ladies?"

"Can I have a pumpkin pasty?" Cho asked.

"Sure thing, sweetie," the lady said as she collected Cho's money. She handed Cho her pasty and turned to Ginny and me. "Is that all?"

Ginny and I both nodded and she slid our door shut and continued to push the trolley down the pathway.

"Ok," Cho said between bites. "Now tell us your plan once you get to Hogwarts."

"Alright," I said with a nod. "This disguise will get me into Hogwarts so I got that part of the plan down. However, I can't wear Luna's clothes forever. After we arrive, I was just planning on catching McGonagall alone and telling her who I really am. I have no doubt she will help me find a place to stay in Hogwarts where I can successfully hide. Hopefully, Harry can still contact me by patronus from my hiding spot if he needs anything."

"Do you have any news about Harry?" Ginny cut in. "Where are they hiding?"

I shook my head. "I don't know where they are but I know they are safe. Harry wanted me to stay behind on his little adventure so if he needed information on what's happening in the world I would be able to tell him. Besides a few updates here and there, I haven't talked to him a lot."

"Belle," Cho said quietly. "I'm not sure if you're plan will work. I mean, sure I think McGonagall would be able to find you a hiding place, but I'm not sure if she will be able to hide it from the Headmaster. I mean I'm pretty sure that the Headmaster has some magical connection with the school and-"

"Wait," I cut in. "What did you say?"

Cho blushed. "Well, I'm not positive, but Harry always said that Dumbledore always knew what was happening in the walls of Hogwarts so he thought it was the role of the Headmaster that had those powers and not Dumbledore specifically but-"

"No, before that," I said waving my hand to stop Cho's explanation. "Did you say that McGonagall wouldn't be able to hide me from the Headmaster? Isn't SHE the Headmaster, or rather the Headmistress?"

"Not according to my employment letter," Cho said as she dug into her cloak pocket. She pulled out a piece of fine white parchment. "For a professor to hire a tutor or apprentice, they need the Headmaster to approve first. And by the signature at the bottom of this letter, McGonagall clearly isn't in charge."

I grabbed the letter from Cho. My eyes instantly reached the bottom of the letter- the signature. My heart stopped for a minute as I read the familiar slanted writing. This person was the only one that could ruin my plan, and of course he just had to be Headmaster.

"...Signed Headmaster Severus bloody Snape," I read out loud.

I jerked back as Neville violently spewed out his chocolate frog.

"WHAT?"

Neville snatched the letter from my hand as Cho wiped off Neville's chocolaty spit that had been sprayed on her face.

"No way," Neville said as he shook his head. "I am NOT going to obey that murderer!"

"Professor Flitwick also mentioned to me in another letter that there is a new Muggle studies teacher and a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, even though now the class is just called Dark Arts."

"WHAT?" Ginny screeched. "They can't just do that!"

"Yes, they can," Cho said with a sigh. "And Snape did. He also hired two Death Eaters to teach those classes."

"Who?" I said quickly, secretly hoping that one teacher would be Draco even though he was unqualified to be a professor.

"The Carrow siblings."

"Huh," Neville said with a shrug. "Never heard of them."

"You will," Cho said with a shudder. "Flitwick had nothing nice to say about them, only terrible things."

"So, what is Annabelle supposed to do?" Ginny asked. "Considering there are three known Death Eaters at Hogwarts, where is she supposed to hide?"

"Where can you hide from a murderous Headmasters at Hogwarts?" Cho wondered.

"Um, maybe the Room of Requirement? Did you think of that?" Neville said sarcastically.

"Brilliant!"


	23. Chapter 22

Annabelle's Point of View

The train arrived at Hogsmeade a few hours later. With the help of Neville, Ginny and Cho, I had perfected Luna's airy tone and was speaking just like a Lovegood.

"Make sure we get a carriage alone so we can talk more about your plan," Cho whispered in my ear as we stood waiting for the thestrals.

I nodded as I pulled out a copy of the Quibbler from my pocket and began to absentmindedly flip through some of the pages. Neville stepped beside me and exhaled nervously, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds or so.

"Relax," I whispered. "We aren't going to get caught."

"You don't know that," Neville argued.

"We'll be fine; we just need to make sure no one else is in our carriage."

A minute or so later an empty carriage pulled up. Cho jumped in it first with Ginny right behind her.

"Come on, Luna," Ginny called over to me. "And you too, Neville!"

Neville and I hurried forward and climbed up into the carriage. We quickly sat down across from Ginny and Cho.

Just as the carriage was starting to move, it suddenly became still again. I glanced behind me at the thestral to see someone blocking its path.

"Hold on," Pansy said as she fed the thestral an apple. "I'm coming on, too."

Cho gave me a nervous look as Pansy walked around to the side of the carriage and climbed on. Once she had sat down next to Ginny the carriage began to move again.

"So," Pansy said to the girl beside her. "Why wasn't your brother on the train?"

Ginny paused for a moment before answering. "He's sick."

"Oh, he's sick?" Pansy asked sarcastically. "Too sick to pick up a quill and send a letter to his girlfriend to let her know he wouldn't be taking the train to Hogwarts this year?"

Ginny blushed. "He has spattergroit."

"Like hell he does," Pansy said furiously. "If he did, surely someone in his family would've let me know sooner!"

"Maybe we just forgot!" Ginny fired back. "Maybe with all the murders and kidnapping happening in the world we forgot to pen Ron's girlfriend!"

"You're lying," Pansy said with a huff. "Slytherins know a lie when they hear one. You can never lie to a Slytherin without them knowing you are doing so." Pansy paused, just noticing me and Neville across from her. "And you are...?" she asked me.

"Luna Lovegood," I said lightly. "Did you know your head is full of wrackspurts?"

"Excuse me?" Pansy crossed her arms.

"Wrackspurts," I said again. "Your head is full of them."

Cho stifled her laughter by pretending to cough.

"And what exactly is a wrackspurt?" Pansy said, annoyance written on her face.

"They cloud the mind," I said matter of factly. "They make you think unclearly and say nonsense things. I don't believe what you said earlier, about not being able to lie to a Slytherin. I think Slytherins can definitely lie to other Slytherins."

"That's different," Pansy said while rolling her eyes.

"Is it?" I questioned.

Pansy ignored me and looked out the side of the carriage. Everyone remained silent until we arrived at the castle.

"Tell your brother and the rest of your family that if they don't write to me soon with an explanation there's going to be trouble," Pansy said to Ginny as she hopped down from the carriage.

We watched her walk away before turning to each other slowly.

"That was close," Neville said with a small grin.

"Yeah, but brilliant on your part with that whole wrackspurt bit!" Cho said to me. "I was trying so hard not to laugh!"

"Good thing she's not too bright," Ginny said shaking her head. "And good thing she didn't pick up on your whole 'lying to a Slytherin' bit."

I shrugged. "Well, it worked, didn't it? I could only lie to her because I knew what she would be looking for."

"Yeah, yeah, that's great," Neville said while glancing over his shoulder. "But let's get into the Great Hall, ok?"

Cho sat up with the staff because she wasn't a student anymore and Ginny and Neville sat together with the Gryffindors; I sat alone with the Ravenclaws. It was weird sitting in the middle of the Great Hall by myself. I was so use to sitting against the left wall with the Slytherins that sitting in the middle with the Ravenclaws made the Great Hall seem like a totally different room.

The first years entered along with the sorting hat. When the first boy was sorted into Slytherin, I automatically began to clap. When a few Ravenclaws turned around to give me a strange look I remembered that no one clapped for Slytherin unless you were from that house. I blushed and gave some excuse about trying to kill a bug to satisfy them. Luckily no one else noticed my slip so I could relax a bit more without having my cover blown.

When the feast began, I became a little more paranoid. I didn't know if, like her personality, Luna would eat strange and weird foods. I decided to just eat a little bit of everything just to be safe. Once I finished my meal, I decided to look around the Great Hall. I noticed there were much less students at each of the tables which surprised me. Hogwarts was the safest place I could think of, so if a war was happening, I wouldn't keep my kids at home. As I glanced by the staff table and saw Snape sitting in the Headmaster's chair, I suddenly realized why there were fewer kids. There was a murderer running the school for Merlin's sake! No wonder many parents decided to not send their children to Hogwarts.

I looked over at the Slytherin table to see how many people I recognized. I was surprised to see Blaise, Greg and Vince sitting with Pansy and Daphne. I knew for a fact that Greg and Vince's parents were Death Eaters so I was surprised that they were not also recruited considering they became of age last year. It's not like Voldemort would need spies in Hogwarts considering he already had the Carrows and Snape more or less. Perhaps he wanted spies among the students but I really didn't think it would be that important to him as long as my brother wasn't at school. Theo and Draco were no where to be seen so I could only assume they were off doing Death Eater stuff with their parents. It made me depressed to think that Draco couldn't even finish his last year in schooling and was forced to go along with Voldemort. Though Draco probably couldn't go to Hogwarts anyways because of his whole thing with Dumbledore last year.

And yet, I thought as I looked up at the Headmaster, Snape's back and he was the one to actually kill Dumbledore.

Snape's searching eyes found mine looking up at him and I immediately looked down at my empty dinner plate. Although my hair and clothes were different and I was still wearing Luna's spectroscopes, Snape would definitely be able to identify me if he got close enough.

As soon as the feast ended, I jumped out of my seat. I joined the large crowd that had migrated towards the door in hope to escape without Snape noticing me. I was almost out of the door when I felt someone pull at my arm.

I silently cursed before turning slowly around. I was slightly confused when I saw no one before I heard someone clear their throat below me.

"Miss Lovegood," Flitwick said over the noise of the students. "Miss Chang had to run an errand for me but she asked me to deliver this to you."

I smiled my thanks as I took the letter from Flitwick. I was about to turn around and continue on when Flitwick spoke again.

"And Miss Lovegood," Flitwick squeaked. "Please remove those vibrant glasses when inside the castle!"

My blood ran cold as his words sank in. "Yes sir," I said as I turned around and slowly removed my spectroscopes. I stuffed them in Luna's cloak and ducked my head down. I followed a Ravenclaw boy to the common room and immediately climbed the girls' staircase that Cho had described for me earlier. I counted four doors on the left and shoved open the fifth one. Cho had explained that Luna shared a room with one other girl who luckily spent almost all of her time in her boyfriend's room.

I flopped down on the bed that the house elves had put Luna's trunk next to. I ripped open the envelope containing Cho's letter and began to read.

_"Belle- My room is in the dungeons. I have Snape's old room because he moved into the Headmaster's suite. Yeah, I know, it's weird but whatever, it's huge. Come meet me in my room at midnight; everyone should be asleep by then so all you have to look out for is Mrs. Norris. Take the hidden staircase behind the statue of Row__ena and that should lead you to the first floor. Head down to the dungeons from there. See you then. Signed Cho."_

I stuffed the letter back into my cloak and closed my eyes. I might as well get some sleep before then...

At 11:30, I exited my dorm. I silently crept down the stairs and headed toward the statue of Rowena. Leave it to the Ravenclaws to build a secret passage way that led directly into their common room. I found a small hatch-door in the floor behind the statue. I pulled the tiny handle up to see a winding staircase below. I lit up my wand and slowly descended the staircase.

When the staircase ended, I found a circular stained window at the end of the passageway. When I squinted my eyes close to the glass, I could just make out something behind the window. I pushed closer and was surprised to find that the window had swung open. I stepped through the hole and looked around. With a smile I realized the passageway had brought me right in front of the Great Hall.

I closed the "window" and began my way towards the dungeons. I was on the second stairwell when I heard footsteps echoing behind me. I anxiously scurried about, looking for a place to hide. When I realized there were no hiding spots and the footsteps were getting closer, I decided to just play it cool. Just as the footsteps were almost there, I stuffed my hand into my cloak pocket and panicked when I didn't find the spectroscopes.

"Miss Lovegood," Snape said from behind me, stopping short. "What on earth are you doing out of bed?"

"Looking for nargles, sir," I answered quietly without turning around.

"Looking for nargles?" Snape said curiously. "Well is there any reason you need to do so when it is past curfew?"

"No, sir," I said. "I was just walking back to my dormitory now."

"Miss Lovegood," Snape said, now irritated. "If your dorm is in one of the towers, why were you heading down the stairs?"

"I, uhhh, was..." I struggled to find an answer to Snape's question.

"You were what?" he snapped. "And look at me when you are speaking to me!"

My feet stayed glued towards the floor. My breathing became faster as I began to panic.

"Turn around, Miss Lovegood!" Snape shouted. "Don't make me do it for you!"

_Well,_ I thought as I slowly pulled out my wand, _here goes nothing._

"STUPEFY!" I shouted as I pointed my wand over my shoulder.

I took off in a full sprint down the stairs and reached the next landing before I heard Snape running behind me.

"Stupid girl!" Snape shouted. "You would dare attempt to stun the Headmaster who just so happens to also be an expert duelist?"

I yelped as Snape shot a hex over my head. I continued to run towards the dungeons and I never slowed my pace.

I was just nearing the last staircase as Snape sent a silent jelly-legs jinx right at me. I tumbled down the stairs and landed at the bottom with a groan. My face was currently smashed into the floor and I could taste blood on my lip. I closed my eyes as tears flooded my vision. Snape's footsteps could be heard slowly descending the stairs and he stopped right next to my body.

I heard him curse in Latin under his breath. "I was just trying to slow her down..." he muttered frustrated.

He poked my body with his wand and sighed in relief after he discovered I had no broken bones and was still alive. He gently pushed on my left arm, trying to get my to roll over.

"Come on, Miss Lovegood," he whispered. "Roll onto your back. I can see that your face is bleeding from the blood on the floor."

"No," I argued, pushing against his hand that was pulling at my shoulder.

"No?" he asked. "You're not bleeding? Well, then please inform me about what this curious red substance that looks just like blood is."

"It's my blood, you git," came my muffled reply.

"If it's your blood, then why did you argue?"

"I wasn't arguing about that," I said softly.

Snape pondered my words for a moment. "Why are you refusing to roll over, Miss Lovegood?" Snape paused. "If you even ARE Miss Lovegood..."

Snape shoved more forcefully at my side and it took all my effort to not turn over. After a moment or two, he gave up and rose to his feet. I sighed in relief that my struggles had not been for naught.

I could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he shouted, "mobilicorpus!"

I gasped as my body rose in the air. I squeezed my eyes shut as he flipped my body over with magic. He lowered my body back to the ground and hovered over me. Snape cleaned my face of any blood while I continued to squeeze my eyes shut.

I felt his cold fingertips gently ghost over my face. He traced the line of my chin slowly before going over my nose. After a moment or two he sucked in his breath with a gasp.

"Annabelle?" he questioned.

I slowly opened my eyes to see him staring at me in shock.

"But you didn't see my eyes," I said incredulously.

"Didn't need to," he said with a small grin. "I've seen your mother turn her nose up at me too many times to not recognize it now."

We stared at each other for a few minutes, not knowing what to do next. I finally cleared my throat, indicating I wanted to speak.

"I'm supposed to be meeting Cho right now..." I said with a blush.

Snape quickly stood up and helped me to his feet. "I suggest using a disillusionment charm next time, Miss Lovegood," he called over his shoulder before ascending the staircase.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Please review! Let me know what you think! I want to know if there are any people out there even still reading this story, and if there are, I thank you! I'm not sure how other people write their stories, but I already know exactly what's going to happen and how it ends, its just a matter of when I have the time to write it all down. If you want to ask me a question, whether it be about the plot, one of the characters, something that confuses you, what my favorite color is or how many siblings I have, I don't care! Just send me a private message or review and I will respond to you within 24 hours. By the way, I plan to put have this story go to the end of the Battle of Hogwarts and then a long epilogue that includes each of the characters! But seriously, let me know what you guys think so far!


	24. Chapter 23

**Annabelle's Point of View**

I walked down the small hallway and stopped at Cho's door. I knocked twice and waited for her to let me in.

After a few seconds the door opened an inch and I saw Cho's familiar brown eye peer out before opening the door fully and allowing me in.

"So I assume you made it down here without a problem?" Cho asked as she walked into the middle of the small living room and sat down onto the couch.

I debated on whether I should tell her about my meeting with Snape or just lie to her and I hurriedly chose the latter. "Yup, everything was fine." I figured that because Cho was not experienced with occlumency like I was that someone found out the type of guy Snape really was because of Cho, it could be bad for all of us.

"Really?" Cho said with a mildly impressed look on her face. "I thought for sure Mrs. Norris would pop up somewhere along your route..."

"Nope," I said quickly. "By the way," I said changing the subject, "I love this couch. It's nice to see familiar color schemes again." I ran my finger over the silver lining in the emerald couch and twirled a little design into the suede.

"Of course you would like it," Cho said rolling her eyes. "I, for one, hate it! Each time I look at it I'm forced to remember who lived here last, who slept in that bed last, who bathed in that shower last!" Cho shivered from the disgust of picturing Snape doing said actions.

"Cho, do grow up," I said as I playfully pushed her arm. "Now what is it you wanted to tell me?"

"Right," Cho said seriously. "Well, we both know you can't stay in Luna's room for the entire year; someone will realize you aren't her sooner or later."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Go on."

"And Neville suggested that you hide out in the Room of Requirement..."

I nodded, still not sure where she was going with this.

"Well I may need some help," Cho said. "After overhearing what Snape and the Carrows have planned for the year over dinner, I feel it's going to be a rough term."

"What?" I said anxiously. "Why? What can they possibly have planned?"

"Try practicing the Unforgivables on first years."

"On first years?" I shouted, rising to my feet. "That's illegal! The Ministry can't let this happen!"

"But the ministry already has," Cho said with a sigh. "You remember what you told me about what happened at Bill and Fleur's wedding? Kingsley said Voldemort murdered the Minister and replaced him with his own guy. He has effectively taken over the Ministry and, from the looks of things, Hogwarts too."

"Bloody hell," I said softly as I flopped down onto the couch again. "What are we going to do?"

"Well," Cho said excitedly. "That's where you come in. In the Room of Requirement, is it possible you could set up some sort of an infirmary?"

"Why?" I questioned. "Madam Pomfrey is still here..."

"I know," Cho cut in. "But remember when Umbridge gave Harry those awful cuts and forbid him to go to Madam Pomfrey...?"

"Ohhh," I began to see where Cho was headed. "So you want me to set up a secret infirmary for kids to go to with their injuries from being tortured?"

Cho shuddered at my bluntness. "Basically, yes."

"But where will I get supplies? What about all the medicines and ointments I will need?"

"As long as you 'require' it the room should present you with what you need."

"But the Room doesn't supply food, right?" I asked.

"True, but most medicines and supplies you will need are non-perishable."

"And what about for the rest of the supplies that I will need that the room can not supply me with?"

"Steal them," Cho said plainly.

"From where? Professor Snape's collection? I think not."

"Professor Snape?" Cho said scrunching up her face in confusion. "But Professor Slughorn teaches potions now..."

"I know, but his collection of potions and ingredients are no where near as extensive and of the good quality as Snape's collection."

"Why would the Headmaster have a large potions collection?"

I stared at Cho, shocked. "Just because he doesn't still teach potions doesn't mean Snape, who is the youngest Potions Master in the UK may I add, doesn't still brew! There's a bloody war going on, for Merlin's sake! Of course he's going to have as many ingredients and potions as he possibly can! And I have no doubt he has them stored in his office, too!"

"Fine," Cho said with a shrug. "Steal from him."

"Alright," I stood with a huff. "I will!"

I grabbed my wand off the table and fixed my cloak.

"Annabelle," Cho sighed. "I didn't mean right now."

"I know, but I have to get out tonight anyways. I'm just going to pop back in Luna's room, grab her stuff, and then head to the Room of Requirement. Once I drop off her trunk I'll head up to the Headmaster's office and try and find a way to sneak in."

"Good luck," Cho called to me as I slipped out her door.

**Snape's Point of View**

I sat at my desk, looking out the large bay window across the room. My ankles were crossed and propped up on the desk top and I sipped my tea as I went over the recent events in my head. I could not believe Annabelle had snuck into the castle. I thought I would finally get a break from babysitting Lily's kids but of course that had to be ruined with Annabelle sneaking in as Miss Lovegood.

Then again, deep down, I knew that even though Potter was out running around looking for horcruxes, I would still need to keep my eye on him. The same would go for Annabelle if she was off pursuing her dream of becoming a healer. It pained me to realize that she would throw that ambition away and risk it all by returning back to Hogwarts. I just hoped that her potions skills don't go to waste.

I was just finishing my tea when a faint glowing appeared in the room. I sat up quickly and returned my feet to the ground. I squinted my eyes, trying to focus on what was materializing in the middle of my office. I grabbed my wand and positioned it cautiously in the direction of the light. When the figure fully materialized I dropped my tea cup in shock. I barely heard the delicate glass shatter as I stared intently at the doe looking at me across the room. I stumbled over my cloak as I ran around the front of the desk to inspect the doe at a closer view.

The doe dipped his head and lightly pawed the ground below. My eyes flickered nervously to the wand in my hand before returning back to the doe._ I couldn't have possibly cast a patronus charm without knowing, could I?_

The doe slowly turned around and pranced directly through my door. I flung the door open and followed quickly. The doe leapt down the staircase and I hurriedly ordered the eagle statue to follow suit. The staircase groaned to life and slowly began to descend. I could just make out the glowing tail of the doe in front of me and when the staircase finally stopped I jogged out after the doe.

It was unclear to me whether the doe had a definite destination or not because it wondered aimlessly around the castle. Down two staircases, then up the next, then down four more and then up two. Sweat pored down my face as I kept a fast pace with the doe. After a few minutes, I thought of just giving up, but one thing kept me going: Lily. I knew she was well dead but this was clearly her patronus. I was the only other person to my knowledge that could conjure this animal so I knew the doe must be connected to her somehow. As I followed the doe, I began to picture her face. I smiled as I thought of her long scarlet hair and those bright green eyes.

My feet went into auto-pilot following the doe as I reminisced. I remembered the first time we met, at that silly playground with her snobby sister. I remembered sitting with her on the train; she sat on one bench and I on the other, both of us with our noses stuck in books. I remembered her flying on the Quidditch pitch, her red hair contrasting with the deep green in her uniform. The way she-

Wait. Lily didn't play Quidditch. And she definitely was not in Slytherin.

_But the memory was so clear; it couldn't have possibly been made up in my _

_imagination__…_

My pace slowed as I realized I was actually recalling a memory of Annabelle, not Lily. I could feel the tea gurgling uneasily in my stomach at the thought of dreaming about a teenager. As much as Annabelle reminded me of her mother, she was simply _not_ her. I would never look at Annabelle the way I would look at Lily. I thought of Annabelle as a godfather should think of his godchild. The fact that she was practically identical to her mother, well, there was nothing I could do about that.

I stopped short as I realized what I just came across in my mind. The doe in front of me noticed my lack of movement and paused. I stared at the doe for a moment before turning around and running in the opposite direction.

My cloak fluttered behind me as I raced through the school corridors. I took the stairs three at a time and didn't rest until I had reached the staircase leading up to my office. I looked for the eagle statue and was surprised when I didn't find it. I then realized that in my haste I never returned the staircase back to normal. I climbed the open stair case and lurched to a stop at my door. I scolded myself for forgetting to shut that door, too. Anyone could have just waltzed into my office while I was out chasing some stupid patronus.

I quickly pulled out my wand and pointed it ahead of me. If there was someone in my office, I would be ready.

I silently eased open my door. At first glance, it would seem that I was alone, but my instincts knew better. A sudden movement from a shadow in my peripheral vision caught my attention.

"Finite incantatum!" I shouted while swinging my wand towards the area of movement.

I froze as I locked eyes with the kneeling figure that was elbow deep in one of my potions drawers.

"What- I just- you were-" I took a deep breath to compose myself before I continued on. "Annabelle, what the hell are you doing? I thought you were with Cho."

"I was," Annabelle said calmly as she rose to her feet. "But then I realized I needed some potions ingredients."

"So you decided to steal from my personal supplies?"

"Oh please," Annabelle rolled her eyes. "We both know Slughorn has no where near a good supply as you. And where else was I supposed to get ingredients on such short notice?"

I sighed. "Well at least tell me what you took so I can replace it."

"Here," Annabelle said as she opened up her bag and walked over to where I was standing.

I sifted my hands through the many bottles and containers in her shoulder bag. "Lionfish spine, pomegranate juice, salamander blood, armadillo bile, silverweed? Merlin, Belle, what are you brewing?"

"I'm not sure yet," Annabelle said as she crossed her arms. "But after finding out the lesson plan of the Carrows I realized I will need to make a lot of pain killers and healing ointments."

"Really?" Snape said as he lifted up a small flask. "Pufferfish eyes? Those are only useful in about two potions in the entire world."

"And what if I need to brew one of those potions?" Annabelle said as she snatched the flask from my fingers and returned it to the bag. "It is an irreplaceable ingredient that I may need at any given time. You told me to always be prepared."

I rolled my eyes at her smirk and continued to sort through her bag. "Cinnamon, dandelion roots, essence of dittany," I paused. "That wasn't my last bottle of dittany, right?"

"No, there's two more in there."

"Good," I nodded and continued to poke around her bag. "Fairy wing, ginger," I pulled out a small box. "No way, I absolutely can not let you have my last bezoar." I pocked the small stone. "Sorry, everything else is fine just not the bezoar."

"Fine," Annabelle shrugged the bag over her shoulder. "But if someone gets poisoned I'm breaking back in here."

"Search all you want," I said as ushered her to the door. "But I'm keeping this little guy on me at all times. And next time, if you need to get something from my office, try the Dark Lord's surname next time."

Annabelle burst out laughing. "Your password is Riddle? That's hilarious!"

I shrugged. "I figure the last word he would think of is the last name of his Muggle father."

"That's true," Annabelle said as she leant tiredly against the door frame. "Although, I think I still prefer my method of distraction. Did you have a good walk with my patronus?"

"You sent me off around the whole bloody castle! It took me a good twenty minutes before I realized it was your patronus!"

"Oh well, it served its purpose," she smiled. "Bet you haven't seen that patronus since my mum, huh?"

"Sometime around then," I said vaguely.

"Yeah, well, goodnight Professor," Annabelle said as she walked towards the winding staircase.

"Goodnight Belle," I called after her. "Stay hidden and safe."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Thanks to everyone who has been sticking with this story! The Battle of Hogwarts is coming up, and believe me, it's going to be the best part of this story! I can't wait to post it! Leave a review and let me know what you think so far!


	25. Chapter 24

**Harry's Point of View**

A slow chill climbed up my spine and my body jerked involuntarily when it reached my shoulder blades. I bundled the blanket tighter around me and squinted my eyes through the wind. My lower leg had begun to fall asleep from leaning on it for the past hour but I made no move to stop the tingling sensations running up my calf.

The wind picked up and I could feel the cold metal of the locket push against my chest. Despite being next to my body for more than half the day, the locket had not warmed up against my skin. My eyes began to drift further closed as my head dropped to the side of the tent. I forced myself to stay awake as I looked up at the snowy tree branches above. I only had to stay on watch duty for a few more hours and then I could return to the wind-free interior of the tent.

Just as my eyes were starting to close again, a light caught my attention. I struggled to fully open my eyes and pinched myself hard on my arm to wake up. The light started to come closer as I threw off the blanket that surrounded me and rose to my feet. I immediately fell back down again because my leg was still asleep and couldn't support my weight. I violently shook my leg until I had feeling in my toes again before trying to stand once more. This time I remained on my feet and began to walk slowly towards the dull bluish light.

I shuffled through the leaves and snow until the light was fifteen feet away from me. The light began to shift shapes from the ball it had started with to a different figure. I opened my eyes as wide as they could go in hope to have them adjust to the light quicker. After a few seconds or so I recognized the shape of the light to be a female deer. I sighed in relief as I realized it was Annabelle's familiar patronus.

The doe turned away from me and began walking further into the forest. I followed its retreating form and lost track of how far I had walked. Time passed by, I'm not sure how long, and before I knew it the doe had stopped. It had begun to changed shape again and returned to the form of a ball. It floated over a clearing and sunk straight into the ground.

Once the light was gone, I hurried forward to the clearing it had disappeared in. After a few steps I found myself lying on my back. I groaned as I realized that the clearing was made entirely of ice and in my haste I lost my footing. I rolled over to my stomach and pushed off the solid surface to get up again. I began to walk forward, much slower this time, to the place the light had disappeared. I crouched down in the snow and brushed off the surface where the ball had sunk into. My hand froze mid swipe as I realized what was underneath the ice. The moonlight broke through the tree tops and the silver of the sword reflected the light.

Quickly, I rose to my feet and started to strip. I took off my two wool sweaters, my shirt, shoes, socks and my thick pants. I folded them into a pile a few feet away and placed my glasses on top. I pulled out Hermione's wand from the pocket of my pants and pointed it at the area of ice that covered the sword.

"Diffindo."

A perfect circle cracked and disappeared underwater at the exact place I had her wand pointed to. I stepped to the edge of the circle and looked down at the sword. I stuck one toe into the water and immediately pulled it back. 

"Holy shit!" I cursed into the air as I shook off my wet toe. "Why the hell did Annabelle put the sword here?"

I circled the hole, hoping to find an alternative way to retrieve the sword without freezing from the icy water. I stopped suddenly and pointed towards the water. 

"Accio sword!"

My words echoed into the silent, still night and I sighed as I lightly tossed Hermione's wand over to where my clothes were. 

"Here goes nothing," I said aloud as I jumped off the edge and straight into the dark water.

As soon as my body was submerged in the water, I knew not taking her wand with me was a mistake. I could barely see anything underwater besides one strip through the water which was from the hole I created. From my angle, I could no longer see the sword so I swam to the bottom of the water in hope of feeling the metal. I brushed my hand along the muddy bottom and after a few strokes I felt it.

My body propelled backwards from the bottom and my stiff neck cracked as I slammed into the ice above. It took me a moment before I realized the horcrux was pulling me and that the locket's chain was wrapped tight around my neck. My whole body thumped against the ice repeatedly, hoping to break through the frozen water to get air.

The locket continued to pull tighter and tighter and I began to see spots all around me. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the seaweed in the water got tangled in my thrashing legs and restricted my movements. I realized the seaweed must be enchanted because it was pulling me through the water. It pushed me up and I squeezed my eyes as I prepared my body for the pain from the crash into the ice that was sure to come.

My head broke the surface of the water and I was pulled out of the water. As soon as I was in the open air the horcrux immediately stopped strangling me. I sprawled out on the cold ice, struggling to catch my breath. 

"Hurry up and put these on so I didn't save your life for nothing."

My head snapped up and I winced as my sore neck screamed in protest. 

"You?" I gasped as Ron threw me my clothes. "I thought it was the seaweed!"

"Seaweed?" Ron asked as he pulled off his wet clothing. "Is that anyway to greet your best mate?"

"How are you here?" I asked impatiently as I tossed him one of my sweaters. "We have wards set up all around this place. You shouldn't be able to find us." 

"Hiding from me, are you?" Ron joked as he pulled on my sweater. "And I just followed your patrnous; I thought you led me to you…" 

"That's not my patrnous," I shook my head. "It's Annabelle's. Mine is a stag, not a doe."

"Oh, right," Ron paused. "And I got this; I reckon it was what you jumped in there for, right?" He held up the sword and gave it to me.

"Yeah, thanks for grabbing it," I took the sword from him. "…and for saving my life," I added after a moment.

"Don't mention it," Ron shrugged. "It's the least I could do after leaving you guys…"

"Let's not dwell in the past," I cut in quickly. "How about we just destroy the locket, alright?"

Ron nodded and I placed the horcrux on a large, flat rock. I handed the sword back to Ron and stood back a few feet. 

"Okay, when I ask it to open, you're going to come at it with the sword and-"

"Me?" Ron squeaked. "I have to destroy this thing?"

"Don't you want to?" I asked. "Wouldn't you want to be one of the people to destroy Voldemort's soul?" 

Ron thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, you're totally right. Okay, let's do this."

"Before I ask it to open, I want you to know what to expect. That Tom Riddle from the diary tried to kill me, and I suspect this locket will try to do something dangerous also. Just remember, no matter what happens after I say open, charge straight at the locket and strike it with the sword. Got it?"

Ron nodded and raised the sword above his head. "Do it."

I concentrated as hard as I could on an image of a snake in my mind and shouted open.

With a screeching whistle the locket burst open. The wind from the tornado that formed around the horcrux pushed me down hard to the ground. I sucked in my breath as a swarm of spiders spilled out of the locket and marched straight to Ron.

"I have seen you dreams, Ronald Weasley!" Voldemort's voice rang through the air. "And I have seen your fears!"

Ron, who had also fallen to the ground when the locket was opened, scurried back in an attempt to escape the spiders. Ron hit a fallen log behind him with a thud and the spiders scattered around him.

A flash of light shot through the forest and I looked away from Ron and focused on the locket. Two gray images rose from the center of the locket and swirled in the air. I watched in horror as one of the forms took on a ghostly image of me. The other figure, standing directly next to the ghost version of me, took on the form of Ron's girlfriend, Pansy.

"You think you're worth someone like me? You think that I could actually _care _for you?" Pansy's question hung in the air.

"There are plenty of Weasleys out there," the ghost version of me stated with disgust. "But there's only _one_ Harry Potter."

"Who could look at you," Pansy cut it in. "Compared to Harry Potter? He's the Chosen One; _he's the_ _only hope we have to survive._ You are nothing, _nothing._"

I forced myself to look away as Pansy's figure and my ghost engaged in a passionate kiss. I chose instead to look at Ron, whose face had turned bright red from anger. He quickly rose to his feet and lifted the sword above his head. With a yell, he charged straight towards me and I shut my eyes as I heard the swish of the sword cutting through the air.

The noise suddenly ended and shakily I let out the breath I had been holding. I glanced over my shoulder, where the destroyed horcrux lay, and couldn't help but smile.

"Just think," Ron said as he dropped the sword by my feet, "only four to go."

We sat in an uncomfortable silence as Ron examined with the shattered locket.

"Ron," I said slowly. "I hope you know she's not exactly my cup of tea."

Ron paused before answering. "Yeah, but are you her's? Am _I_ her's?"

"Of course you are," I said immediately. "You're a strong, brave, handsome pureblood! What more could she ask for?"

"Money," Ron said glumly.

"Ron," I assured him. "She has _plenty _of money to allow her to live comfortably for the next two lives. I can guarantee you she's not looking for money when she picks out a bloke. And considering you guys have been together for about two years now, it looks like she already picked one out."

A soft smile played across his lips. "I guess you're right."

I rose to my feet and offered him my hand. "Come on, let's go show Hermione what we've done." Ron took my hand and I helped him to his feet. He grabbed the sword in one hand and the locket in the other.

After a few minutes, we reached the tent. I stuck my head in to find Hermione asleep in the armchair.

"Hermione!" I called and she awoke with a jump. "We have a visitor!"

She quickly shucked off the blanket she had been using and slipped on her boots. After she had both of them on she silently followed me out of the tent.

As soon as she saw Ron, she froze. They made awkward eye contact before Ron did a little wave with his hand.

"Hey."

I must remember to record this somewhere as the longest period of time that Hermione has gone without speaking.

After about twenty seconds, Hermione ran straight towards Ron. His face broke out into a grin as he saw her coming at him.

"YOU-" Hermione yelled with a shove to Ron's midsection, "COMPLETE-" Hermione reached down to grab a handful of snowy leaves, "ARSE RONALD WEASLEY!" Hermione threw the leaves into Ron's face and reared back before giving him another hard push. "YOU COME BACK HERE AFTER _WEEKS_ AND ALL YOU SAY IS HEY?"

Ron looked completely confused and shocked that Hermione had not greeted him warmly and with open arms.

"Harry," Hermione said while violently turning towards me, "where's my wand?" My eyes widened at all the possibilities that were whirring through my head at what Hermione could hex Ron with.

"I, uh, don't know Hermione…" I said lamely as I took a few steps back from her furious form.

"HARRY POTTER YOU GIVE ME MY WAND!" Hermione charged at me and I cringed as my back hit the solid bark of a tree. Her eyes danced with fury and it took all my strength not to cower in front of her. "HE LEFT US IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR TO GO SEE HIS BLOODY GIRLFRIEND! WE COULD HAVE DIED! AND IF YOU THINK THAT I WILL NOT HEX HIM INTO AN INCH OF HIS LIFE RIGHT NOW, YOU ARE SADLY MISTAKEN HARRY POTTER!"

"Hermione," I tried to soothe the infuriated witch. "Calm down! He's our friend! It's not his fault he missed Pansy and-"

"NOT HIS FAULT HE MISSED PANSY?" Hermione screamed into my face. "YOU THINK I DON'T MISS DRACO?" Hermione choked back a sob. "What about us, Harry? Don't you miss Cho, too?"

"I do," I nodded. "But right now my main priority is to find and destroy the horcruxes."

"And for the record," Ron cut in glumly. "I didn't even find her. She wasn't at her estate."

I stared at him in shock. "Um, mate, just because we're off camping and finding horcruxes doesn't mean that the rest of the seventeen-year-olds are skipping their seventh year of education, too." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Marauder's Map. "I'm surprised you didn't check this before you left us."

Ron grabbed the map from my hands and his eyes began to quickly scan the parchment. "There!" Ron said pointing his finger at Pansy's mark after a few moments.

I looked over his shoulder and smiled. "I found Cho…"

Hermione wrung her hands nervously for a moment before also coming over and looking at the map. After a minute or so she stepped back. "No Draco…" she said softly.

With an aggravated sigh she turned back to Ron. Her eyes drifted to the sword and broken horcrux that he held in his hands.

"Where did you get that?" she asked in shock.

"Long story," I cut in. "But it was Ron that destroyed it."

Hermione paused for a moment. "By the way, how did you find us?"

"With this," Ron said as he pulled out the deluminator. "I was all alone in a dark alley somewhere so I clicked it. A blue light shot out and I realized it was the same light from one of the lanterns that are in the tent. The light just floated in the air because it had no light fixture to go to. Amazed, I reached out to touch the floating light. As soon as my finger came in contact with the light, the light shot straight into my body. Then, because I figured I would fool around with it a bit, I disapparated, hoping the light would bring me back to where it originally came from. When I landed in this forest, I only had to wait a minute or so before I saw Harry. And, well, here we are now…"

"That's brilliant," I said in awe as I looked at Dumledore's deluminator in Ron's hand. "Too bad it couldn't be that easy to find Voldemort's horcruxes. We would-"

"NO!" Ron shouted as a terrified look spread across his face. "The name has a taboo! Death Eaters will be on us in seconds!"

Hermione dashed into the tent with me close on her heels. She hurriedly grabbed her beaded bag and stuffed it as deep as it would go into her sock as I pulled her wand out of my pocket. We heard a pop of apparition just as Ron entered the tent.

"We know you're in there, poppet!" someone slurred outside the tent. "No, escaping us now!"

Hermione grabbed my shoulder and forcefully spun me around so I was facing her. She silently grabbed her wand from my hand and cast a spell onto my face. I winced as stinging sensation immediately spread across my face. The tent flap was pushed open only a moment after Ron tossed the horcrux and sword underneath a bed.

Greyback, Scabior and another snatcher I didn't recognize strode into the room. Hermione turned away from me to face the intruders. Scabior walked casually up to her and his eyes traveled slowly down Hermione's body.

"Why, 'ello, beautiful," Scabior drawled as her ran a firm finger down Hermione's jaw line. He closed his eyes as he breathed in deeply, clearly reveling in her scent. "Oh, she'll be fun."

"Be careful whatcha wish for. For all we know, she might me a filthy mudblood!" Greyback barked from the tent entrance.

"Doesn't matter," Scabior sneered. "_I'll_ be the one transporting this little lady, either way!" Scabior looked down at Hermione. "You got a name, love?"

Hermione grimaced at his pet name for her. "Penelope Clearwater," she said with a shaky breath. "Half-blood."

"Look it up," Scabior said to the third man while tossing a little booklet to him. He turned towards Harry. "What happened to you, ugly?" he asked with contempt. "What's ya name?"

"Dudley," Harry said clearly. "Vernon Dudley," then after a moment, "pureblood."

Greyback quickly fumbled through a second booklet. "There's no Vernon Dudley here!"

Scabior left Hermione and walked over to Harry. "Why don't ya want us to know ya name, ugly?" Scabior prodded Harry with his wand. "Ya got something to hide? Ya got a nasty blood-line or traitor-" he paused. Slowly, he raised his wand to Harry's forehead and brushed aside his bangs.

"…We're not taking this lot to the Ministry…"


	26. Chapter 25

**Hermione's Point of View**

Scabior's nails dug into my left forearm as he disapparated us away. I landed on my feet unevenly and would have fallen over if Scabior hadn't tugged me closer to him. Harry, Ron and their captors landed a few feet away and after I saw that they were unharmed, I began to take in my surroundings.

My eyes swept across the large landscape; the towering hedges, the thick metal gate, a familiar emblem on the entranceway. It took me a moment to understand why the emblem was familiar. My stomach dropped at the sight of the silver snake intertwined around the bold 'M.'

"I've been here before," I whispered to Harry as the snatchers shuffled us in the direction of the gate.

"What?" Harry said loudly before lowering his voice. "When?"

I swallowed hard before answering him. "It was during our sixth year, at Christmas break…"

My feet followed numbly forward as the memory of when I was here last swam forward into my mind…

"_These are the finest roses in Britain," Draco said proudly, rubbing a petal between his thumb and forefinger. "Only the best for a Malfoy, of course."_

_I dropped his hand and cupped a flower into my palm. "They're beautiful," I said in awe._

_Draco smirked and daintily plucked a rose from the vine. "Here," he handed it to me. "Keep it; we have plenty."_

_I couldn't agree more with that statement: there were miles and miles of flowerbeds over Malfoy Manor. "Thanks," I smiled as I slipped the rose into the pocket of my sundress._

"_Come on," Draco grabbed my hand and began pulling me by the huge green hedges and leading me towards one of the back doors to the mansion. "I'll make us some tea."_

_He guided me through winding hallways and staircases and it was all I could do to not drop my jaw and drool at the beauty of his home. When we finally reached the kitchen, we were laughing about one of the many portraits hanging on the walls on the manor. However, Draco's laugh died out suddenly and stopped. I followed his gaze to see a woman perched formally on the edge of a chair._

"_Mother," Draco greeted her in surprise, dropping my hand. I instinctively took a step back, unsure of whether I would be welcome in this home or not. "I didn't think you would be back until Friday," he said coolly._

"_Yes, well, your father is still there," his mother sighed. "It was much to hot in Morocco for me… That and a bit too stuffy with your father's many mistresses hanging about the palace."_

_A pang of sorrow shot through my heart for this woman I didn't even know. Misery was clearly written over her face and I felt my intrusion was the last thing that could help her._

"_Draco," I whispered quietly, "I think I'm just going to go…"_

"_Go?" Mrs. Malfoy cut in. "Oh, please don't leave on my accord, I haven't even met you yet."_

_Draco looked uneasily between me and his mother before introducing me. "Mum, this is Hermione Granger. Hermione, meet my mother."_

"_Oh, call me Narcissa," Mrs. Malfoy said with a smile as she extended her hand. I shook the skinny hand decorated with jewels and smiled politely._

_After an awkward silence that filled about ten seconds, Narcissa cleared her throat. "I heard you saying something about getting some tea, Draco…?"_

"_Yes, of course," Draco said quickly. Unsure of whether he should leave me alone with his mother or not he stood tensely at the doorway. Upon seeing this, Narcissa waved her hand indifferently at him, dismissing him, and he left to go make the tea._

"_Now," Narcissa said, turning to me. "Please sit down, Hermione. I would love to get to know you."_

_I slowly sat down in a chair across from Narcissa and began fidgeting nervously with my nails. I had never met Narcissa before, but if she was anything like her husband, she would hate me as soon as she found out my blood status._

"_Did you know," Narcissa said with a smile, interrupting my thoughts. "You're the first friend Draco has ever brought home?"_

_I sat in shock before answering softly, "No, I didn't know that."_

_Narcissa's grin deepened. "That's how I know you're special; that you mean a lot to him."_

_My cheeks began to burn red. "Well, he means a lot to me, too…"_

"_So how long have you and my son being seeing each other romantically?"_

_My mouth open and closed in shock, unsuccessfully trying to form words. I could feel my cheeks burning a deeper red._

"_Oh, don't deny it," Narcissa said with a smile, waving her hand just the way she had dismissed Draco. "Just seeing the way he looks at you in that one minute interaction we just had showed me something was going on."_

"_A little over a year," I said after I finally found my voice again, answering her previous question._

"_Ahhh, so the Yule Ball, if I remember correctly?" I nodded. "I would love to see the dress you wore; Draco's robes were exquisite and I can only imagine that the red trim in his robes matched wonderfully with whatever dress you wore. Given what a beautiful girl you are, you two must have made a smashing couple," she smiled sweetly._

"_Thank you," I said just as Draco entered the room. He was carrying a tray that contained all the necessities for tea. He gracefully placed it on the table and began pouring tea into three cups. He fixed my tea just the way I liked it and I assumed he fixed his mother's and his teas the way they like it before plopping it the seat next to me._

"_So," he said taking a sip of his tea. "Did you two get along while I was gone?"_

"_Yes," Narcissa answered while smiling at me. "Although I would still like to know a bit more about Miss Hermione."_

"_Well," Draco said after placing his cup on one of the china saucers. "She's top of our class and has Outstanding marks in every one of her classes-"_

"_Besides Defense Against the Dark Arts," I cut in. "You and Harry beat my average in that class."_

"_Harry?" Narcissa cut in. "Harry Potter?" Draco and I both nodded. "Oh, that's why your name sounded familiar! You're one of his best friends, right? A muggleborn, if I remember correctly?"_

_My cheeks began to blush again as I nodded silently. This was surely the beginning to her kicking me out of the Manor._

"_The brains of the trio," Narcissa said with a smile. "That explains why you're top in your class. What house are you in, dear?"_

_I swallow the lump that has begun to form in my throat. "Gryffindor," I say quietly._

_Draco side-glances at me nervously before turning his gaze back to his mother._

"_So," Narcissa said. "Draco has snagged a beautiful Gryffindor muggleborn, who is also top of her class and best friends with the famous Harry Potter…" She took another sip of tea before continuing. "Well, only the best for a Malfoy…" _

_Her smile almost brought tears of joy to my eyes. To be accepted by one of Draco's parents was more than I could ever ask for. Draco squeezed my hand affectionately where it was placed upon the table. The three of us finished our tea in a comfortable silence._

"_Hermione," Narcissa said after placing her empty tea cup on the saucer. "I'm assuming you will be spending a lot of time with Draco at the Manor," she paused, "when Lucius is not around, of course. So, I am going to alter the wards so they accept your presence here and not as an intruder. Is that alright?"_

_Draco's face broke out in a grin as I nodded hurriedly. "That would be wonderful, Mrs. Malfoy," I answered._

"_Please, Hermione," she said with a smile. "Call me Narcissa. A friend of Draco's is a friend of mine and I expect we stay on a friendly basis. Therefore, you must drop the formality and call me Narcissa."_

"_Ok, Narcissa," I said with a smile as Draco poured more tea in our cups. "I think I will enjoy spending time here…"_

My mind snapped back into the present as Scabior led me down the front walk. My words echoed through me head. _"I think I will enjoy spending time here."_ From the looks of the people escorting me towards the gate, I knew I would _not_ be enjoying this particular visit to Malfoy Manor. When we reached the gate we stopped. I glanced confused over my shoulder to see Scabior staring impatiently at the gates.

"What's this?" Ron laughed. "You can't get in, can you? You have to wait for someone to open the gates! Ha!" Ron laughed in disbelief at Greyback who was holding his collar tightly.

"You'll learn to respect your superiors, boy!" Greyback growled at Ron before slamming him hard into the gate. "Shut your mouth!"

Ron's arm luckily deflected the gate from smashing it his head, but just barely. He cried out in pain as his elbow crunched against the hard metal.

"Stop!" I shouted to Greyback. "You're hurting him!"

Greyback turned from his assault on Ron and shoved Scabior off me. He grabbed my shoulders and flung me around until my face was a foot from the gate. "You'll learn to be quiet unless spoken to, girlie!" He shoved my body forward and I flung my hands up immediately to protect my face. My teeth chattered as I hit the ground hard.

I sighed in relief that I was not too badly hurt before realizing something went wrong. When Greyback pushed me, I was a foot from the gate. Surely I should have collided into the cold metal, not the hard ground?

I rolled over onto my back and gasped in shock. I looked into Greyback's surprised eyes through the gate that now separated us. Harry's jaw dropped as he realized the gates had disappeared to allow me through.

"Bloody hell, Hermione…" Ron said, never taking his eyes off me. "How did you do that?"

I looked down at my hands, which were now bleeding from the fall, before answering Ron.

"…I don't know." _Only I do know,_ I thought in my head. _It's because Narcissa changed the wards to accept my presence and clearly hasn't changed them since._

I stared back at our three captors, Ron and Harry. After a bit of shocked silence, Harry's voice cut through the air.

"Well, run, Hermione!"

My feet scrambled to support my weight and I rose swiftly from the ground. I took off in a sprint down the long front walk. I almost made it around the corner of the hedge when someone blocked my path.

"What the hell are you doing over here, dearie?" Bellatrix screeched before grabbing my throat. I gasped as I struggled to find air through her tight grip. "Well?" she asked, tightening her hold on my neck.

"Snatchers!" I managed to choke out.

Upon hearing this, she released the hold on my neck only to grasp my neck. "Let's go welcome them in, shall we? I'll deal with how you got through the gate later."

Three minutes later, our party was being led into the all-too familiar drawing room of the Malfoy Estate. I whipped my head around anxiously and froze when my eyes met though deep gray ones of Narcissa Malfoy. She had her arm looped elegantly through that of her husband and brow was furrowed slightly in worry. She stared at me for a moment before dropping her gaze to the floor. My stomach twisted nervously into a tight knot.

As if my nerves couldn't be more alert, every hair on my body stood on end when Bellatrix whispered hoarsely into the air, "_Get Draco…"_

My eyes snapped instinctively to Narcissa who was frozen with fear. Greyback quickly exited the room to search for Draco. All too soon he returned with my boyfriend.

It was the first time I had seen him in over half a year. He looked pale as if he hadn't eaten much recently. His whole body slouched over from tiredness. Greyback shoved Draco, whose eyes were still trained miserably on the floor, over to where Harry was. Slowly he lifted up his face. He stumbled back in shock.

"Ha-" he coughed quickly. "His face," he quickly covered his slip. "What's wrong with his face?" He pointed towards Harry's swollen face.

"Yes," Bellatrix said while eyeing Ron and me suspiciously. "How did his face end up like that? Was it you, dearie?" Bellatrix said to me. "Did you the same thing to his face as you did to our precious gate?" Bellatrix whirled toward Lucius in rage, suddenly remembering I got past the wards. "Lucius!" she screcched. "Would you care to explain to me how this _mudblood_ was able to get past the gate? _Before _I lifted the wards?"

Lucius's face took a look of confusion before turning to rage. "I- I have no idea how that is possible!"

Bellatrix sighed loudly in fury. "Nevermind, let's just see if this is Potter or not. Maybe Draco can-" she paused, looking over Draco's shoulder and staring at Scabior.

"Where'd you get?" she asked, pointing towards the Sword of Gryffindor. Scabior had found the sword underneath the bed moments before we disapparated to the Manor. He decided to take it along because the rubies engraved in it looked valuable.

"I found it in their tent," Scabior said proudly. "I reckon it's mine now."

Bellatrix silently cast a hex at Scabior, entangling his neck with ropes. She stunned Greyback and knocked out the third snatcher in a matter of seconds. She summoned the sword, released the ropes on Scabior, and sent him flying towards the door.

"GET OUT!" she screeched. Scabior ran out the door in a full sprint, eager to escape Bellatrix's wrath.

"CISSY!" Bellatrix shouted. "PUT THE BOYS IN THE CELLAR! I'M GOING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH THIS ONE, GIRL TO GIRL!"

Draco's face paled even more that usual and his eyes doubled in size. He scurried toward the door in fright.

"DRACO!" Bellatrix screamed. "Bring Auntie her dagger!"

Draco looked nervously between me and my aunt. I nodded my head slightly, giving him permission to do so. I know if he refused his cover would be blown and my pain was the price to pay for his safety.

"Accio d-dagger…" He said weakly, holding out his wand. Moments later the handle of the dagger landed perfectly in his shaking hand.

"H-h-here…" he stuttered, handing Bellatrix the dagger. Tears welled up in his eyes and he mouthed _I'm sorry._

Bellatrix shoved me to the floor and my head smashed to the ground hard with a smack. Draco inhaled sharply before biting his lip to prevent sound from escaping.

Bellatrix rose the blade slowly into the air before coming down sharply on my wrist. I gasped in shock as a blood dripped out of the cut. Draco dropped to his knees nearby in grief; unable to stop the assault that was happening to me.

Bellatrix leaned close to my bleeding wrist and swiped her finger through my blood. "Filthy blood for a filthy girl!" She dragged her finger with my blood across my arm. "She has nice skin though…" Bellatrix said to no one in particular. "It's almost a shame to ruin it…" she grinned evilly down at me. "…_almost."_

She gripped her dagger tightly and dug deeper into my arm. She criss-crossed various wounds until a pool of my blood was on the floor next to me. I screamed in pain and fought to get up. She dug her nails into my shoulder, restraining my body. She continued to cut my arm and I screamed loudly into her ear, my body shaking from the loss of blood and pain. A splattering of liquid to my left was just barely heard over my screams and I turned my head to see the source of the noise. I paused in the middle of a scream at the sight before me.

Draco was kneeling on the ground and had his hands placed below him. He was violently vomiting whatever little that he had eaten that day. His mother rushed over to him and began to pet his head soothingly. Lucius stormed out of the room in disgust, never once looking back. Narcissa whispered words of comfort to Draco after glancing apologetically in my direction.

Bellatrix continued to carve in my arm, stopping between cuts to ask where I found the sword. When I would tell her I didn't know where I found it, she would cut another gash into my forearm. This process continued for many minutes. _Ask. Deny. Cut. Scream. Vomit. Ask. Deny. Cut. Scream. Vomit. _

Finally, Bellatrix rose to her feet. Draco lay a few feet off, curled up unconscious next to a pool of his vomit. Narcissa had disappeared sometime through my torture. I looked down at my bloody arm and could just make out the word 'mudblood' carved deep into my flesh. When Bellatrix turned to clean her knife, I sprung woozily to my feet. I dashed over to Draco's limp body and snatched his wand from his back pocket.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" I shouted at Bellatrix's back. Her wand shot out of her hand and landed directly in my outstretched fingers. She spun around, speechless, with ascowl written deeply on her face.

"Draco!" she called. Draco, who I assume had fainted during my torture, did not move. "Draco!" Bellatrix shouted again. "Grab our wands, stupid boy!"

I stuffed Draco's wand in my back pocket and pointed Bellatrix's wand at her. "You can't escape," I said softly to her. "Release my friends and maybe I will let you live!"

Just then, Ron and Harry bolted in the room with wands pointed at Bellatrix. Bellatrix turned to them in shock before facing me once more.

"You'll have to get through me to get through them," Bellatrix smirked. "And I have a few tricks up my sleeve…" she grabbed the sword that was laying at her feet in one hand and gripped her dagger in the other.

I looked down at Bellatrix's wand, feeling the dark magic pulse up the wood and into my hand. I knew that her wand was powerful and very capable of doing strong dark magic that I had never even heard of. If I was to get by her, I would have to cast a dark spell to do so. I racked my brain for a spell that would allow me to get by her without harming the others in the room.

After a momen I shouted into the air, "Scorpionem venenum!"

A large black scorpion shot out of the wand and landed at Bellatrix's feet. Her eyes doubled in size as it began to circle around her. I dashed by Bellatrix and the scorpion and gripped Harry's hand tightly. My eyes sought out Draco's across the room. He was still unconscious and lay near Bellatrix and the scorpion. I quickly shout out a spell across the room to revive him and he stirred awake. Ron spun us into apparition just as the scorpion lunged at Bellatrix. My last view of the Manor was Draco looking at me anxiously in the eye.

Little did I know that I wouldn't see him again until we were back at Hogwarts; fighting for our lives.


	27. Chapter 26

**THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS**

**Harry's Point of View**

"Hermione!" I shouted over the noise. "We can't go back! We need to get out of here!"

I swerved my stick around a falling piece of debris and turned to look at my best friends. Hermione was sitting behind Ron on the broom and had a death grip around Ron's waist.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" she shouted towards me. "I SWEAR TO MERLIN IF UOU DON'T GO BACK THERE AND GET MY BOYFRIEND I WILL KILL YOU!"

With a frustrated sigh I jerked my broom in the opposite direction and began searching for Malfoy. "It's going to be impossible to find him!" I yelled to Hermione who had urged Ron to follow me.

Our eyes searched the fire anxiously for a minute. "There!" Hermione screeched. "Hanging onto that table!"

My eyes followed Hermione's pointed finger until I found a blonde blob in the midst of the smoke. I sped forward and ducked my head down to gain speed.

"MALFOY!" I shouted as I neared him. "GIVE ME YOUR HAND!"

At the last second, Malfoy looked up and held out his arm. I gripped his wrist hard and pulled him into the air. The sweat that had formed on my hands from the fire loosened my grip and I felt him slipping.

"Potter!" he shouted just as he fully slipped from my grasp. He plummeted toward the ground at a surprisingly fast pace.

I shot my broom downwards toward Malfoy. Seconds before he smashed to the ground, I grabbed his shirt and flung him over my shoulder.

I heard him sigh in relief as he adjusted himself so he was sitting behind me on the broom. I directed us towards the exit where Hermione and Ron were headed to.

We flew out of the door and our brooms lost control. We smashed to the ground and rolled into the opposite wall from our momentum.

"Ugggghh," I groaned as I felt a headache coming on. I slowly rose to my elbows and looked around.

Hermione was just awakening after momentarily fainting. As soon as she opened her eyes, she jumped woozily to her feet and stumbled into the wall behind her.

"Draco..." she croaked out before coughing from the smoke that was in the Room of Requirement. Draco was already on his feet, trying to catch his breath, when he heard her say his name. He immediately ran to her and pulled her into a crushing hug.

"Hermione!" he cried as tears poured down his blackened face. "I never thought I'd see you again! And then you showed up at my house as prisoner and it killed me to watch them torture you and I'm so sorry I didn't do anything and-"

Hermione cut him off with a passionate kiss. She gripped his jacket so hard I thought she would rip the fabric.

I looked at Ron who was sitting a few feet away and saw he mirrored my look of shock and disgust.

I coughed uncomfortably when Malfoy started to run his fingers through Hermione's hair.

"Um, excuse me, but, um..." Ron said awkwardly.

When the couple still didn't break apart, I cleared my throat loudly. "Oi!" I shouted. "There's a bloody war going on!"

Finally, Draco and Hermione stopped kissing. Hermione wouldn't loosen her hold on Draco though as they turned toward us sitting a few feet away.

The skin on their cheeks could be seen in streaks from the tears that had washed away some of the soot on their faces. Hermione at least had the decency to blush after their little display, but Draco just held his head high and wouldn't take his eyes off Hermione.

"You don't know what it's like," Draco said to Ron and me without looking away from Hermione. "To see the love of your life being tortured in the same room as you and not being able to do anything about it without putting her life more in danger."

Hermione turned her gaze away from Ron and me to look into Draco's eyes. Tears immediately formed in her eyes again as she captured him in another hug. She began sobbing into his shoulder as he soothingly rubbed her back.

"I thought they were going to kill you," she cried as sobs shook her body. "After I escaped with your wand and your aunt's, I thought they were going to kill you, and it would've been my fault!"

"Shhh..." Draco whispered. "None of the matters now... I'm fine... You're fine..."

My vision of the hugging couple faded to black as my headache grew worse. My eyes closed in agony as pain shot through my scar.

Images began to swim quickly through my mind. Voldemort with Nagini. Voldemort sitting on a chair in the shrieking shack. Voldemort discussing something intently with Snape. Snape pacing the floor.

"Harry..." someone called softly, gently shaking me awake. "Harry, wakeup!"

My eyes slowly opened to see the blurry image of someone kneeling before me. Green eyes stared intently back at me and a curtain of red hair shielded the blinding light from my eyes.

"Mum," I sighed in relief. "I am-"

I stopped speaking as the figure above me gasped in shock.

"Guys!" she shouted nervously, never breaking eye contact with me. "How hard did you say he hit his head?"

My vision began to focus more as her voice rang more clearly through my head. "Annabelle..." I muttered softly.

Her tense shoulders dropped in relief. "Thank the gods," she said, helping me to my feet. "I was going to have a tough time explaining that one..."

"Sorry," I grinned sheepishly at my sister. "We both look way too much like Mum and Dad..."

"Agreed," Belle said as she ran her hands nervously through her hair. "I barely made it through the battle; it's brutal out there. But what happened to knock you out?"

"I saw a vision," I answered as Draco, Hermione and Ron gathered around Annabelle and me. "Voldemort was in the shrieking shack with..." I trailed off and coughed nervously before glancing at Annabelle.

"With...?" she asked.

"...Snape."

Her face grew pale as she processed this information. "Well," she said after a moment. "Maybe he's still playing his role as a double agent... He can't be on Voldemort's side... right?"

We all dropped our gazes awkwardly, unwilling to look her in the eye. When no one would confirm her belief, she grew frustrated.

"He's on our side!" Annabelle screamed as tears fell down her face. "I just know it! He has to be!"

"Well then let's go to the bloody shrieking shack!" Ron yelled. "And then youcan see for yourself which side the man that murdered Dumbledore and cursed off my brother's ear is actually on!"

**Fred's Point of View**

"George!" I shouted over the flying curses around us. "They have us cornered! We're doomed!"

George and I were currently hiding behind a tapestry in a hallway. We had a shield charm cast around our hiding spot but we both knew that it wouldn't last forever. When the charm failed, the death eaters waiting outside the tapestry would drag us out and kill us.

"What do you have in your pockets?" George asked.

I dug into my pants pocket and pulled out the little I have left. "I have three extendable ears and a love potion." I stuffed the useless toys back into my pocket. "How about you?"

"I only have one decoy detonator."

I sighed in frustration. "What we need is a plan, huh, Georgie?"

"You're in luck, dear brother of mine!" George smiled softly. "I have one, but you're not going to like it!"

George pulled out his wand and pointed it at me. I barely had time to react before George hit me with a full-body binding spell.

"George!" I shouted nervously. "What the hell are you doing?"

George smiled sadly at me before explaining. "Obviously you haven't forgotten about the Unbreakable Vow we made, correct?"

I started to nod before I remembered I was incapable of moving my neck. "Yes," I answered instead.

"I promised to keep you out of Azkaban, or I die..."

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat before George continued. "Well, I've been thinking..." he started. "Our only options right now are to wait until this shield charm lifts, try and fight our way out, and most likely die, or we can fight our way out, live, but after the war is over Umbridge still throws you in Azkaban, and I die. Either way, I'm a dead man, Freddie. So if I'm going to die anyways, I don't want you dead or in Azkaban! If I am to die, I want to be assured that you can live a long and free life."

I stared at him in shock. "What?"

"I mean, forget about my life for a second, Fred," he said seriously. "Unbreakable Vow or not, I really do want to keep my promise to you and keep you out of Azkaban. Let's face it, there's really only one way of doing just that..."

I watched in horror as George, my twin and my best friend, raised his wand so it was level with my face.

"Diffindo!" he shouted.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Please review! I want to know what you guys think so far and if anyone is still out there reading this! I plan to write two or three more chapters and then a lonnnng epilogue which includes most of the characters; it's very important that you read the epilogue! So please, if you're sticking with this story, I thank you. Review and let me know what you think, whether you hate it or love it, or your first thoughts! Private message me if you have a specific question you would like to ask! It's great to hear from you guys :)


	28. Chapter 27

Fred's Point of View

Pain surged through the side of my head as George's curse hit me. I looked down in horror to see a pool of my blood on the floor below me. If it hadn't been for the body binding curse still on me I surely would have fainted when I saw my ear lying in the blood. I could feel warm blood flowing freely down my face. I stared at George, speechless, unsure of why he would do this to me.

George raised his wand to my face again and I flinched as he said a spell; fully expecting him to finish the job he started. I was surprised when I felt my skin stretching to fit back together and soon the blood flow had stopped all together. George then went on to clean the cut and rid my body of any excess blood.

He smiled sadly at me when he had finished. "We look like twins, Freddie."

I didn't respond to him for I was still too much in shock. I watched silently as George bent down and picked up my ear. He cast a quick cleaning charm on it and held it up to the light to examine it.

After insuring that their was no extra blood on the ear, he held the ear up to the hole on the side of his head; right where his own ear had been blasted off.

He steadily raised his other arm until his wand was pointing at my ear. "Reparo," he whispered.

The severed part on the ear that had been attached to my head immediately recognized my blood and DNA in George's wound. The ear stitched itself perfectly onto George, who now looked like he had two ears.

George tapped the new ear with his finger and gave it a harsh pull to insure that it was securely attached to his head.

"You look good as new," I said in wonder, momentarily forgetting that George's new ear was at my expense.

"Still deaf on that side though," George said with a shrug. "No different from what I've grown used to."

We stared at each other for what seemed like forever before the clarity of George's plan hit me. "You look like me," I sobbed, tears filling my eyes.

"I always look like you, Freddie," George whispered shakily.

"No," I shouted angrily. "You did this on purpose, didn't you? So that no one, not even our own mother, would be able to tell that I'm actually Fred!"

"It's the only way!" George cried. "I love you so much and if you impersonating me for the rest of your very long life will insure me that you are safe, then so be it!"

I attempted to lunge forward only to be stopped by the binding curse still on my body.

"I hate you," I muttered sadly. "Don't do this for me."

"I love you, too," George said knowingly. "And I want to do this... I have to."

He walked forward and placed a lingering kiss to my temple. "Stay safe, Freddie."

He looked me in the eye and the confident smirk momentarily disappeared. "Take care of Annabelle, will ya? If she figures out we switched, which she probably will, let her know I love her, yeah?"

He turned from me and raised his hand to get a firm grip on the tapestry. Moments before he was going to pull it away, he looked back at me.

"I reckon Angelina will figure it out, too, but besides her and Annabelle, make sure no one knows. That's my last wish so you better stick to it," he said with a wink.

His free hand dug deep into his pocket and pulled out the decoy detonator. He released his hold on the tapestry to grab his wand. After a quick inner debate, George placed his wand beside me on the ground and grabbed my wand instead. He silently took off the shield charm and lifted the tapestry up an inch. He threw the decoy detonator out to the left. Once he heard the explosions, he lifted the tapestry all the way up and slipped off to the right without looking back.

I head the deatheaters shouting that the detonator was a diversion and they quickly stormed to the right.

Moments later, the body binding curse on my body lifted. I quickly ran out of the tapestry and headed left. As I escaped the death eaters unnoticed, I tried not to think of the reason why my body binding curse had lifted. Tears formed in my eyes as I realized for the first time in my life, I felt alone. I kept on running, desperately avoiding the thoughts of my dead brother. My tears blurred my vision and I crashed into a young girl as I rounded a corner.

I fell back with a sob and furiously wiped by cloudy eyes. I looked down at the fallen girl and was surprised when I recognized her face.

"Ginny?" I asked.

She looked up at me and smiled. "Oh, Fred! I'm so glad to see you and-"

"I'm George," I cut in. I pointed toward the hole where my ear should be.

Ginny's eyes widened for a second before she laughed. "Sorry, of course you are, I must be going crazy."

"You and I both," I teased as I helped her to her feet.

"Speaking of which, where is Fred?"

**Annabelle's Point of View**

I walked in a daze as I followed Harry and the others to the shrieking shack. I barely registered Hermione taking a stick and pushing the knot in the Weeping Willow to stop its movement. My hands were stuffed deep into my pockets, playing with the snitch Harry told me to keep safe. I replayed in my mind all my recent encounters with Snape as I crawled through the winding passageway. It seemed to me that he really was on the side of the light, despite the fact he was fighting on the side of the dark in this battle. Although, I don't know that for sure. All I know is that he is alone with Voldemort in the Shrieking Shack and that could mean anything. He could be spying on Voldemort, distracting Voldemort, or even persuading Voldemort. A flicker of hope ran through my body as my faith in Snape was momentarily strengthened.

We slowed our pace as the path seemed to incline. Harry, who was leading, motioned to us to stay quiet. After a few more steps, the dirty path changed to an olden wooden one. We silently ascended the creaky stairway and paused outside one of the bedroom doors. Hermione pulled out her wand to cast 'homenum revelio.'

Harry, upon seeing Hermione take out her wand, quickly snatched it from her hand. "He can sense magic," Harry whispered.

I leaned cautiously towards the closed door and could just make out a Voldemort and Snape through a crack in the wood.

"The wand responds best to the person who killed its last owner, Severus," Voldemort hissed. "You killed Dumbledore, so you are its true master."

"My lord?" Snape said shakily, knowing exactly where Voldemort was going with this conversation.

Voldemort waved his hand and I heard Snape's wand zoom through the air.

The silence in the air was deadly. I could feel the tension that was rolling between Snape and Voldemort.

Voldemort raised his hand and started summoning items from Snape. I heard a whooshing in the air followed by the sound of Voldemort catching various bottles. I saw a blood repleshening potion go along with dittany, a healing potion, poison, a knife and any other defenses that Snape might have.

"Severus," Voldemort said. "You've been a good and faithful servant."

I strained my ears to hear Snape's response but it seemed that he chose to remain silent.

"Oh," Voldemort said and I could hear the smile dripping off his words. "Accio bezoar!"

I saw Snape inhale sharply as Voldemort took his last shred of hope.

"Nagini," Voldemort whispered. "Kill!"

I felt Draco's strong arms restraining me as Harry clamped a filthy hand over my mouth. My scream was muffled by his skin and I struggled against Draco's hold to free myself. Tears poured down my face as I heard the thumps of Snape's body hitting the back wall over and over again. After what seemed like forever, the movement stopped and Nagini's body could be heard sliding over the floorboards. With a crack of apparation, she and her master disappeared.

I stumbled forward as Draco removed his arms. I hastily shoved open the door and fell to my knees as I saw my godfather's broken body.

A sob caught in my throat and he slowly raised his head. His dark eyes found mine and I wept when I saw tears glistening his face. I silently crawled forward and cradled his head onto my lap.

"Don't die," I whispered. "Please, just _don't die."_

My hands pressed urgently against the gash in his neck, hoping to stop the stream of blood.

Snape's mouth ghosted into a smile. "Annabelle," he slurred, a trickle of blood dribbling out of his mouth. "I'm so proud of you… You've accomplished so much more than I ever thought was possible. Look how brave you've been..." A single tear dropped to the floor. "You should've been in Gryffindor, love… A house like Slytherin doesn't deserve your greatness. You should've been in Gryffindor… like your mother."

My tears dripped onto the front of Snape. "You're wrong," I sniffed. "I belong right where the hat placed me, in your house." I smiled sadly as I looked down at Snape's bloody shirt. "You know, this is the only time I've seen you wear a different color than black."

Snape started to chuckle but coughed up more blood. "Of course, it seems only right to humiliate me in the last moments of my life. Thank you, gods! Thank you for having me die in bloody Gryffindor colors!"

I looked down at Snape's pale face. I reached up and ran my finger lightly down his protruding nose. "I've always wanted to do that," I whispered through my tears.

Snape raised a shaky hand until his palm was pressed firmly onto my cheek. He ran his fingers slowly down my jaw. "You look just like your mother."

"Tell me," I said urgently. "Tell me how you knew her."

Snape opened his mouth to talk, but no sound came out. I watched in horror as his eyes seemed to drain of life. My eyes remained locked on his as he ushered his last breath. With his final breath came a ghostly white substance. It took me a moment to realize what it was.

"Hermione!" I screamed. "Get me a flask!"

Hermione, who had been respectfully waiting in the hall with the others to give me privacy, burst into the room, a tiny flask in her hand.

I snatched the flask from her fingers and scooped the white substance out of the air. I grabbed the stopper Hermione offered and slammed it on the top of the container.

The others slowly shuffled in the room, their eyes trained on Snape's still body.

"What is that?" Draco asked, pointing toward the flask in my hand.

"A memory," Hermione answered, recognizing the airy material.

I silently rose to my feet, unable to look away from my dead godfather. "Where's the nearest pensieve?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Dumbledore's office," Harry answered. "Well, er, Snape's office," he paused, glancing down at the dead headmaster, "…which is actually now McGonagall's."

Draco slipped Hermione's hand into his left hand and held his wand in the other. Hermione gripped my arm tightly as Harry grabbed my hand. With a quick spin, Draco apparated us into the main entranceway of the school.

Hermione stared at her boyfriend, clearly shocked. "I didn't think the wards would be this broken! It clearly states in _Hogwarts: A History _that-"

"Yeah, yeah," Draco said with a smile. "We all know you can quote that book backwards, but when Voldemort destroyed all of Hogwarts' wards, it allowed apparation through out the entire school grounds."

Hermione smirked and replied to Draco, but my mind was too distraught to process it. I walked in a haze through the entranceway with Harry close behind.

Voldemort's cold voice cut through the air and the surrounding people dropped to the ground in fright.

"I give you an hour to collect your dead and care for your wounded!" his voice rang out. "This will give Harry Potter plenty of time to meet me alone in the Forbidden Forest. If he is not there by midnight, I will kill every last man, woman and child that prevents me from reaching Harry Potter. You have until midnight!"

We all stared at Harry, who was frozen in worry. "I need more time!" he whispered. "If I could just kill the snake before I have to face Voldemort, it will be a fair fight!" He shook his head in dismay and I reached forward to squeeze his shoulder comfortingly.

"I'll think of something, alright?" I smiled. "We all will."

I then started towards the Headmaster's office but Harry redirected me towards the Great Hall. As soon as we stepped inside the large room, I felt my heart drop.

Lifeless bodies were lined shoulder to shoulder on the floor. Weeping families crowded around their loved ones and cries rang out through the hall.

Harry stumbled forward helplessly as he saw Remus and Tonks lying dead. His sobs cut through the air as he failed to find their heartbeats.

I continued on, unable to stop and cry over the death of another fatherly figure in my life. However, my feet slowed as I saw a mob of redheads huddled together in the far corner of the hall.

I took off in a sprint towards the Weasleys, praying that no one was dead.

I stopped a foot away from their tightly formed circle, unable to see who they were huddled around.

Percy, who I knew from late night dinners at the Burrow, noticed my presence. He turned and gave me a big sobbing hug. My breath caught in my throat to see Percy, who was always proper and stuck up, such an emotional wreck.

The other Weasleys turned from the body as they heard Percy crying into my shoulder. I felt someone approaching me but Percy's wild orange hair blocked my line of vision.

Strong arms pulled me from Percy and my face was immediately pushed into the familiar chest of my boyfriend. His sobs cut through the air and shook my body.

"Shhh," I comforted him. "It's alright; it's going to be okay." I soothingly ran my hands through his messy orange hair, his head shoved firmly onto my shoulder. My hands drifted down his head and skimmed towards his cheeks. As they brushed lightly over where his ears should be, I felt him wince in pain.

"George?" I asked, returning my hands to his ears, only to feel him shudder again. "George, what happened? Are you hurt?" I pulled back from the hug to look into his eyes with concern.

As I looked at his bright blue eyes, I realized something was off. I gasped with shock and stumbled away from his grasp.

"But you're not-" I started, but he cut me off. His lips pressed down onto mine urgently and a silent plea passed from his open eyes into mine.

He slowly pulled away from the cold, unwelcoming kiss. My mouth clamped shut when he quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the others. As we moved away, I got a better angle of the Weasley on the ground. A sob escaped my throat as I laid eyes on George's dead body.

He pulled me out of the Great Hall and into an empty classroom. He sat on top of one desk and I occupied another. We said nothing for the longest time, simply staring at the other.

After a few minutes, my resolve broke down and I jumped off my desk. I flew into his open arms, tears pouring down my face.

"Fred!" I cried, soaking the front of his sweater. "What did you guys do?"

I felt his body start to shake and his cries could be heard with mine. "I couldn't do anything!" he wailed. "I tried, Annabelle, I really did!" Fred's voice caught in his throat and he took a moment to regain his breath. His hold on me tightened as he struggled to calm his breathing. "He restricted me. He cut off my ear and made me promise to live out my life as him, that way I wouldn't go to Azkaban."

I pulled away from Fred and sat next to him on the desk. I used the sleeve of my shirt to wipe the fluid off my face. "Who are we going to tell?" I whispered.

"He said only you and Angelina," Fred wiped his eyes. "We can't tell anyone in the family because if we told one, we would be obligated to tell the others, and then word may get out. So just make sure you call me George"

We sat in silence for a while, unsure of what to say next. "I'm sorry," I said, only because I felt it was necessary.

"It's not your fault," Fred said with a weak smile. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone for a little bit. We'll figure this mess out later."

"Okay," I said and slid off the desk. I turned and placed a soft kiss on Fred's cheek. "Goodbye... George."

"He loved you," Fred said quietly. "He wanted me to tell you."

I wandered slowly out of the castle. After walking down a few random hallways, I stuffed my hands into my pockets. I was momentarily confused to find a glass container in one pocket before I remembered what it was. I pulled it out and saw the flask Hermione had handed me earlier in the Shrieking Shack.

My feet now set off in a hastier pace. With a destination in mind, I was able to reach the Headmaster's office in record time. The eagle statue jumped aside when I arrived and I waited the short ride up the staircase.

I pushed open the large wooden door and looked around the office. I didn't even know what a pensieve looked like so I was clueless on where to start looking for one.

"Accio pensive," I said aloud.

Slowly, a large metallic looking disc floated through the air in my direction. It stopped moving in front of me. I uncorked the flask and poured the white substance into the pensieve.

I peered curiously at the substance drifting through the pensieve. A speck of red caught me attention amidst the white. I cautiously held out my finger to touch the colorful speck. Upon contact, my entire body lurched forward and I found myself fully submerged in Severus Snape's memories.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Please review! I want to hear what you guys think! Leave a comment or private message for me! It would be greatly appreciated if I heard from _someone_ because I haven't got a review for quite a few chapters! PLEASE let me know what you think! Is there anybody still out there?


	29. Chapter 28

Annabelle's Point of View

My legs gave way as I pulled my head from the pensieve. My mind was whirring with all the memories I just saw.

I saw memories of Snape's childhood; memories that included the absence of parental love and care he had growing up. There were memories of Snape meeting my mother, his first magical friend who he could be himself around. Through out the memories, I could see Snape slowly falling for my mother. He was hesitant at first to let her in, but her constant kindness and care led him to completely trust her. He was miserable when he saw her swooning over my father, who Snape clearly hated.

The memories showed that years later, when my mother and father had married, Snape heard that they were expecting a child. I watched the shocked expression on his face when he heard my mother telling him that she wanted him to be the godfather. She and James made a deal that if the gender of their baby was a girl, she could pick the godparent and if it was a boy then he could. She had just found out that she was carrying a girl and immediately knew who she was going to ask to be the godfather. Tears welled up in Snape's eyes as he agreed to care for her unborn girl if something were to ever happen to my parents. My mum smiled knowingly and pulled him into a grateful hug. It was clear that despite the dark mark Snape had recently adorned on his arm that my mother still knew where his heart truly lay. My eyes followed Snape as he left the Potter threshold with a spring in his step and a slight smile.

There was one haunting memory of Snape being informed of the death of my parents. He was in Dumbledore's office and was slumped forward in a chair, hiding his face.

_"Although it is quite unfortunate that Mr. and Mrs. Potter have passed," Dumbledore said regretfully, "…something good has shown through."_

_Snape lifted his face and tears poured down his cheeks. "Something good from the death of Lily?" he shouted, his voice cracking on the name of my mother. He stood up with a growl and flipped Dumbledore's desk over. Dumbledore stood calmly to the side and didn't flinch as his belongings crashed to the floor. "You're mad, old man!" Snape screamed into his face._

_Dumbledore stepped back from Snape's fuming form before speaking. "As I'__m sure you recall, they had children, yes?"_

"_A daughter," Snape said immediately, his eyes brightening a tad. "I believe Annabelle Louise is her name."_

"_Yes, well, she and her brother, Harry James, survived," Dumbledore said. "However, as Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, is currently being escorted off to Azkaban, he is unable to care for the children. The Potters never mentioned who was Annabelle's godparent so it seems that-"_

"_It's me,"__ Snape cut in as he dried his tears._

_Dumbledore's brow furrowed in confusion. "Pardon?"_

_Snape cleared his throat. "I'm Annabelle's godfather. Lily asked me to be her godparent before Annabelle was born. She wanted me to care for Lily if something ever bad happened to them." Snape's voice dropped to a whisper__ as he finished his sentence._

"_And will you care for the girl, along with her brother?"__ Dumbledore questioned._

_Snape paused before answering. "How can I?" he sighed. "Voldemort's followers would surely find out sooner or later. How could I face Lily's kids every day with this blasted mark on my arm?"__ he shoved up his sleeve and Dumbledore looked away._

"_Well, you prove a valid point. However, that only leaves me with one option." Dumbledore shook his head. "Their only living relatives are Lily's sister and her family."_

"_Her sister?" Snape shouted in disbelief. "Petunia?"_

_Dumbledore's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "You know Petunia Dursley?"_

"_When we were kids," Snape answered. "She was highly jealous of Lily's and my magical powers. She will never care for two children of our kind. She'll kill Lily's children, no doubt! Surely you can't be serious?"_

"_I'm afraid we have no other choice," Dumbledore said sadly. "I have Minerva and Hagrid working on getting them there right now."_

_Snape sat down slowly into his chair. "Will I ever get to see her?" Snape whispered. "Annabelle, I mean?"_

_Dumbledore smiled. "I'm sure when young Miss Potter turns eleven you will be her professor," his eyes twinkled. "And maybe even her Head of House, yes?"_

_Snape shook his head. "If she's anything like her mother, and from the pictures Lily sent me she's a carbon copy, then she will be in Gryffindor."_

"_Ahh, you never know, Severus," Dumbledore smiled. "No matter who she looks like, it's what is on the inside that shows who we truly are..."_

There were memories of Snape watching over me during my early Hogwarts years. The joy he felt when I was sorted into his house. The yearning he had to be more of a fatherly figure to me, not just my professor. The friendship we had that grew when he told me he was my godfather. There were memories of Snape secretly helping Harry; saying the counter-curse against Quirrel, watching over him in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Tears dripped from my eyes as I saw Dumbledore informing Snape that Harry was a horcrux. I saw the shock written on his face before immense sadness set in. Dumbledore, surprised Snape was emotionally affected so much, asked if he had grown to love Harry. Snape silently stood before whispering a patronus charm. I watched in awe as my mother's patronus glided through the air. Guilt immediately filled me as I had used that very patronus to distract Snape earlier this year.

There were memories of the night before Dumbledore's murder. Snape went over the plan with Dumbledore before telling his mentor goodbye. Memories from Snape's year as headmaster flashed before my eyes before I was pulled back into the present.

Sweat mingled with tears as my heart beat loudly into my ears. Snape did everything for his lost love, even dying for the cause in the end. My mind flashed to George's lifeless body lying in the Hall, sacrificing himself for his brother's freedom. I looked back onto the sacrifices I made in my life, which paled in comparison to Snape's and George's deeds. I thought of Harry, the only person I truly loved that was still alive, and I wondered what I could do to help him.

Harry's last request rang through my mind. _"I need more time," he said._ I shakily got to my feet; I knew what I had to do.

I walked in a trance towards the dungeons, running my fingertips on the cool stones of the wall. I opened the door to Professor Slughorn's un-warded classroom. I shuffled back toward the storeroom and pushed open the creaky door.

Once inside, I knelt down and started looking at the bottles along the bottom shelf. When I found the one I was looking for. I smiled as I remembered the last time I brew this potion; in my sixth year with Cho. We were probably discussing something foolish, like possible Yule Ball dates or Quidditch. I shook my head at the memory and uncorked the bottle in my hand.

The smell of polyjuice potion hit my nostrils and I cringed at the foul smell. I looked down at my sweater, searching for a black hair that I could use. When I found one, I plucked it from the fabric and held it up to the dim light.

I was about to drop it in the potion when I froze. _Was this Harry's hair, or was it Snape's?_ The strand was of a medium length so it could easily be from either male. I shrugged and dropped the hair into the bottle. Only one way to find out...

The potion dulled for a moment before turning a bright golden hue. I smiled as it took the exact shade from when seven of us turned into Harry earlier that year. I brought the bottle to my lips and choked down the entire container.

My skin bubbled for a few seconds before settling back to normal. I rushed back into the classroom and located a shiny metallic cauldron. Harry's reflection smiled back at me. I quickly ran out of the classroom and began to ascend up the staircase.

A few minutes later, I burst out the main doors of the castle and headed down the stairs. I directed my feet towards the forest and slowed down to a jog. As I passed Hagrid's house, I switched to a calm walk.

I stepped over winding tree branches, trying to navigate through the dark. A nearby owl screeched beside me and I stumbled forward, startled. My foot found a loose branch and my ankle twisted sharply. I smashed to the cold forest floor, my head spinning. I could feel something sharp digging into my hip and I slowly climbed to my feet. I reached into my pocket and found that Harry's snitch had ripped a hole through my sweater.

I pulled the cool ball out of my pocket and held it up. After a moment, an idea struck me. I cautiously lowered my lips to the snitch. I watched in awe as black words etched themselves onto the surface: _"I open at the close."_ Apparently, because I used a polyjuice potion to look like Harry, the snitch could still remember his skin and respond as such.

"I open at the close," I muttered aloud. _What could the close be? The end of something? The end of this war? Of my life?_

"…I'm going to die," I whispered to the snitch.

The gold casing began to shift, layer upon layer slowly disappearing. After the final layer was gone, the metal clicked into place and stopped.

I looked into the hollow snitch and saw a tiny marble. I tipped the snitch into my hand and the black marble fell into my hand. Under closer inspection, I realized the marble was actually a stone. I turned it over, looking for symbols or words. After only finding a tiny triangle, I looked up and nearly dropped the stone.

George, Snape and my parents were standing in front of me. My legs failed me from shock and I collapsed to the ground. Slowly, I crawled toward my loved ones.

"Mum?" I whispered. "Dad?"

My mother smiled at me. "Yes, Annabelle, it's us."

"What are you doing here?" I asked. I looked around to George and Snape. "All of you?"

"You have used the resurrection stone, Annabelle," Snape answered. "It brings back people you love," he gave me a small watery smile.

"Belle," George called, bringing my attention to him. "Oh, Belle, I love you so much!" he cried before dropping to his knees in front of me.

I reached out to touch his face when my hand went right through his pale form.

"You can't touch us," my father said from my side. "We aren't really here; it's only an illusion."

My smile faded slightly. "You all sacrificed yourself for the people you love; you were all so brave," my voice grew quiet. "How could I do something like that?"

"You don't have to, honey," my mother whispered. "You deserve to live a long and happy life."

"It won't be happy without any of you," I shook my head. "And I want to give Harry more time; he's the one that deserves a long and happy life."

"If you're sure you want to do this," Snape said, looking me in the eye. "Then find courage in your heart. Remember, even Slytherins have been known to act because of love."

I smiled at him. "See you all on the other side."

I dropped the stone onto the forest floor and brushed some leaves over it. I continued to walk forward through the trees.

I approached a clearing in the forest. I could see Voldemort talking quietly with Bellatrix on the other side. Death Eaters stood nervously behind them, constantly glancing over their shoulders. I pulled my hood over my head before moving.

I walked into the clearing and cleared my throat. Voldemort's head snapped toward mine and smile. "Ahhhh, Harry has decided to join us."

I stood fifteen feet before him. He pulled out his wand and gestured for Bellatrix to back up.

I stared into his cold eyes before smiling. "Come on, old man," I said gruffly, hoping to imitate Harry's voice. "Kill me."

His grimy teeth broke into a huge smile. "With pleasure."

My smile only faltered for a moment before determination set firmly in my eyes.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Leave a review? :)


	30. Chapter 29

**Narcissa's Point of View**

I watched the boy fall to the forest floor with a thud. Unknown tears clouded my vision as I stared at the motionless body. _Why was I feeling regret and sadness for the death of this boy? I don't even know Harry Potter._

A throat cleared to my right and my head turned accordingly. Lord Voldemort, who would not take his eyes of Harry Potter's body, shouted out a demand. 

"Someone, go see if the boy is truly dead!" the Dark Lord's voice cut through the silent air like a knife.

My feet didn't hesitate to walk forward, accepting the duty. No one else had moved so I took my time getting to the fallen body. When I approached Harry Potter, I kneeled down beside him and placed my hand over his heart.

As my hand touched Harry's chest, I froze. _Something is not right._ My fingers slipped beneath the seam of his robe and pulled back the hood a bit. I found no pulse on the neck and was about to return to my feet when something caught my eye.

Where I had pushed back the hood, a bright scarlet color was showing. My stomach lurched as the dark lighting in the forest led my brain to believe it was blood. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was not Harry Potter's blood, but his hair.

My searching fingers went still as I realized that this was not Harry Potter at all. _It's his sister, Annabelle._ I looked down onto the dead body's face and began to pick out the feminine features I had previously overlooked. A single tear escaped my eye as I thought of the sacrifice this young girl made to save her brother. I pushed the hood back into place, hiding the girl's hair color and true identity. I shakily stood up and turned to Lord Voldemort.

"Dead," I said clearly so everyone could hear.

Voldemort barked out a laugh and smiled triumphantly. "We shall show them what their hero looks like now! Victory is ours!"

The surrounding Death Eaters let out a joyous cheer. I slowly walked back to my celebrating husband. He looked down into my face and grinned.

"Isn't this marvelous, Narcissa?" he pulled me into a tight hug. "We have won! We will have tons of muggles and mudbloods to serve us until the end of eternity!"

I pushed off his chest with a frown. My feet stumbled back from him and his smile faltered.

"Cissa, what is it?" he reached for my hand but I snatched it back before he could get a hold on me. "Tell me what's wrong!"

My mouth curled up in disgust as contempt ran profusely through my body. "You wouldn't know what was wrong if it stole your cane and smacked you right across your pompous face with it!"

His concerned eyes darkened and his frown turned into a sneer. "Take that back! I will lock you in the dungeons if you don't apologize to me _this instant!"_

My steely eyes stared into his filled with hatred. My mouth pressed together into a thin line as I refused his demand. Fortunately, Lord Voldemort broke through our fight, addressing all the Death Eaters.

"Quiet down!" he ordered. Immediately, everyone became silent. "Harry Potter will be carried in by this giant oaf, and I expect all of you to follow behind respectfully. Let's be on our best behavior and offer them a chance to join us before we slaughter the traitors," his crooked teeth were displayed with his smile.

We walked behind him in rows of five, no one saying a word. I could just make out Hagrid carrying Annabelle in the front of the line. Her hood was fastened securely around her head, effectively hiding her hair. If her hood stayed where it was, her identity would be safe and no one, besides Harry Potter himself, would know the truth.

As we approached the school's courtyard, the _others_ started to file slowly into the area. Their dirty and tired faces showed sorrow and defeat. My eyes searched the crowd quickly, finding neither a particular head of straight blond nor bushy brown.

"Attention, everyone!" Voldemort called loudly. "Harry Potter… is dead!"

The Death Eaters' cheers were not heard over the deafening scream from the side of good. The crowd parted as someone from the back ran to the front of the line. I watched in horror as Hermione Granger pushed hysterically through the people. I could only pray she kept her mind and did not anger the Dark Lord, knowing her life was on the line.

"HARRY!" she cried, falling to her knees, tears falling freely down her cheeks.

I was too entranced by Hermione that I didn't even notice Draco walking up behind her until he could almost touch her.

"Hermione," he urged. "Calm down, please."

My eyes snapped to Voldemort, reading his face in hope of determining how he would take this event. He was about to address Hermione and Draco when my husband spoke beside me.

"Draco!" he shouted. "Draco!" Although he beckoned Draco over to us with his hand, Draco didn't see it because he wouldn't take his eyes off Hermione. After what felt like an eternity, he looked up at us, his eyes unwelcoming and cold.

"Draco!" Lucius called again. "Join us! Come to your parents' sides."

Draco's facial expression didn't change as he stepped closer to Hermione's kneeling body. Voldemort's earlier words rang through my mind. _"…offer them a chance to join us before we slaughter the traitors…" _

"Draco," I said softly. His eyes met mine. An understanding passed between us before I smiled slightly. "Please come."

Draco looked back down at Hermione before reluctantly leaving her side and walking toward the Death Eaters.

"Ahhhh, Draco!" Voldemort greeted him before Draco was able to come to me. "I'm so glad you haven't lost your senses! Join us, where you truly belong!"

Draco nodded at Voldemort before stepping to my side. My hand sought for his urgently and I gave it a reassuring squeeze once our fingers were intertwined.

"It's just to stay alive," I whispered into his ear. "Only momentarily, nothing permanent, I promise."

He gave me a weak smile before turning back to look at Hermione across the courtyard.

"NOOOO!" a girl's scream pierced the air. I watched the crowd part again as a frantic looking girl rushed forward. She fell to her knees besides Hermione, her chest heaving with sobs.

Draco's sharp intake of breath caused me to look at him curiously. Obviously, from his reaction, this girl was important.

"That's Cho Chang," he whispered to me. "She was Harry Potter's girlfriend and also-"

His statement was cut off as Cho let out another scream.

"SHE WAS MY BEST FRIEND!" Cho sobbed, her body violently shaking from her distress. "I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SAY GOODBYE!"

Voldemort prowled forward to the kneeling girls. "Silly girl!" he shouted in Cho's face. "You knew Harry Potter would die in this battle! It's not my fault you failed to say any last words to him!"

Cho hiccupped and wiped the tears from her eyes. "What?" her voice caught in her throat as she pointed to the body in Hagrid's hands. "You think that's Harry Potter?" she stood angrily to her feet. "Harry Potter is out hunting your pet snake as we speak!"

Draco's head snapped toward mine, his gray eyes filled with unshed tears. "Is that…?" he asked, unable to finish his question.

I nodded. "Did you know her, Draco?"

A single tear splashed onto his cheek. "She was my closest friend in Slytherin… We played Quidditch together…" he shook his head and looked solemnly down at his feet.

I looked back up at Voldemort to see that he had frozen in place when he realized Nagini was not by his side.

People gasped and shouts pierced the air. The crowd parted to find a tall, chubby boy stumbling through.

"Where's your snake, huh, Voldemort?" the boy taunted. "Lost track of her have you?"

Voldemort's smile faltered as he glanced again to his side, finding Nagini no where to be seen. He growled in his throat before hexing ropes around the boy's body.

"Name yourself! How do you know this information?" Voldemort yelled.

"Neville Longbottom!" the boy cried. "And I know this information because I saw Harry kill your pet not a minute ago! Saw it with my own eyes!"

Voldemort laughed. "Impossible!" His grin returned to his previously stricken face. "I killed Harry Potter myself! He's right there!" He pointed his gnarly finger at Hagrid and the dead body in his arm.

My eyes grew wide as I realized that I would be the one to blame when the Dark Lord discovered that he had not killed Harry Potter. My feet automatically began to shuffle back into the crowd of Death Eaters, pulling Draco along with me.

I was jerked back when I realized Draco had stopped. Lucius had a firm grip on Draco's sleeve and was looking at me with contempt.

"I don't care if you go or not," he spat. "But the boy stays!"

Draco's frightened eyes locked onto mine. He released my arm and pushed me deeper into the crowd. "Stay safe," he whispered. "I can take care of myself for now."

I hurried deeper into the Death Eaters. I looked back to see Voldemort approaching Hagrid. He prowled forward but stopped when he was ten feet away from the half-giant and the body in Hagrid's hands. 

"Evanesco!" Voldemort shouted, pointing his wand at Annabelle's cloak. The material disappeared into thin air and Annabelle's scarlet hair tumbled down her back.

All hell broke loose. I cast a disillusionment charm on myself, hiding from the angry Death Eaters. I watched Draco closely, making sure he was alright.

Draco was fighting Lucius's hold on his sleeve, punching the elder Malfoy hard in the gut. My husband's hold never faltered and he returned a swing to his son's jaw.

I started to go back and help Draco but stopped when I saw Hermione approach the two men. She spelled Lucius's wand and cane from his hand and caught them triumphantly from nearby. Although now weaponless, Lucius continued to struggle with Draco. Hermione rushed forward and whacked Lucius's grip on Draco with the cane. When that didn't work, she swung back and smashed the cane into my husband's head.

Lucius fell to the ground with a groan, releasing Draco to clutch his swollen forehead. I smirked as I took the disillusionment charm off me and approached Draco, Hermione and Lucius.

"You two need to hide," I whispered to them hurriedly. "You'll be the first that they'll kill."

Draco pulled me into a hug and kissed my cheek goodbye. Hermione smiled and did the same. With a quick turn, the pair disappeared into the crowd.

I looked down at my hurt husband and couldn't help but smile. "I told you that you wouldn't know what was wrong even if it stole your cane and smacked you with it!" My smirk grew as his eyes widened in shock. "Goodbye, Lucius. Don't come looking for me. I hope it pains you as much as it brings joy to me that our son will very likely marry a muggleborn. I couldn't be happier."

Lucius's shocked expression quickly turned to a smirk. "You're sorely mistaken if you think that a mudblood will be able to marry into the Malfoy line! I won't allow it!"

"What makes you so sure Draco would care at all about whether you approve of this marriage or not?"

Lucius's grin made my blood run cold. "The Malfoy line runs long into the past; even into ancient times. Are you aware that ancient magic runs in our blood, as well as many upper-class purebloods?"

My smile faltered. "I don't know what you're talking about, Lucius…"

Lucius brushed past me and began to walk away from the battle that had begun. "You don't need to know, but Draco _most certainly_ will!"

My reply was cut short as I heard a scream nearby. I whipped my head around to see that a duel circle had formed around Harry Potter and Voldemort.

"You're not the master of the elder wand!" Harry declared as Voldemort began to circle him. "When Draco disarmed Dumbledore, he was the master until Hermione disarmed him at his manor. I thought that she was the true master but earlier today I grabbed her wand from her in the shrieking shack, so now _I'm_ the master of the elder wand!"

Voldemort sprung forward with his wand pointed at Harry.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

A green light shot out of Voldemort's wand just as a red one shot out of Harry's. The lights connected midair and magic rippled between the two wands. Harry held his wand arm tightly with his other hand and started to slowly walk toward Voldemort. Voldemort did the same but found more resistance when he tried to walk toward Harry. After a moment or two, Harry surged forward and the red light from his wand fully encased Voldemort's hand. Voldemort's spelled backfired just as his wand flew through the air; landing in Harry's outstretched hand. The Dark Lord fell to his knees before landing face down; dead.

A deafening cheer called out from the side of the good. I looked around at the fallen bodies, recognizing my crazed sister and my niece among them. There were countless others, some familiar faces and some unrecognizable ones. I sat on a broken piece of rubble as people celebrated around me. My thoughts were a jumbled mess in my mind. Although the evil side, _my side,_ had not been victorious, there were bound to be some consequences. Lucius's words rung in my head. I didn't know much about ancient magic, but for Draco's sake, I was willing to learn. He deserved to know the truth.

_After all, only the best for a Malfoy._

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please review! Let me know what you think! Private message me if you want to discuss something or ask a question. Only one more chapter to go! Thank you everyone who has stuck with this story! I can't wait to post the final chapter on here soon. The more reviews I get, the stronger will I'll have to write/upload the end!**


	31. Chapter 30

**Angelina's Point of View**

_**19 Years Later**_

"Fred, will you grab that trunk for Roxanne?"

I watched both my husband and son turn around before simultaneously reaching for the trunk.

"Dad, she said Fred," my son laughed. "Not George! I know you were really close with your brother but this is getting ridiculous!"

Fred II grabbed the trunk and shuffled out the front door. My husband blushed as he walked over to my side. I gave him a disapproving look and he smiled sheepishly.

"Old habits die hard, darling," he shrugged. "I'm still Fred in my mind..."

I relented my stern gaze and wrapped my arm lovingly around his shoulder. "I understand, love, and you'll always be Fred to me." I stood on my toes and pressed a haste kiss to his cheek. "But to others, your son included, you need to remember to be George."

His response was cut short as my daughter bounded down the staircase.

"Let's go!" she screeched excitedly. "I feel like I've been waiting my whole life to finally go to Hogwarts!"

"That's because you have, Roxy," my husband smirked. I elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

"What?" he asked, playfully pouting as I shot him a warning glare.

"Be nice!" I hissed as Roxanne ran out the front door to find her brother. "It's our last day to see her before the holiday break, after all!"

Fred chuckled and led us toward the open door. "Lighten up, Angie. I'm just joking around a bit."

We stood on the front step, looking at our children stuffing their large trunks into our Ford Angela. "I know you are," I said softly. "I'm just going to miss them." I turned to him with a smile. "Do you think Roxy will be sorted into Gryfindor just like her brother was?"

Fred thought about it before shaking his head. "No, she's definitely a Ravenclaw. If not, then hufflepuff. You saw the way she nursed that wounded bird back to health..."

I nodded before glancing at my watch. "Circe! Ten thirty already? Don't you need to head back to the shop?"

"Nope," Fred answered. "I took the day off. I had a little trouble with my boss about it but after a stern talking to, he allowed me to go," Fred's honest tale was ruined by his grin.

"You are your boss," I laughed and pushed him lightly on the shoulder.

"Oh yeah, right, I forgot," he smiled. "Let's head to the train station, shall we?"

Fifteen minutes later, Fred II and Roxanne were running through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. I followed slowly behind them with my husband.

"Oi! Harry!" Fred called from beside me. Harry, who was talking quietly to his younger son, turned toward us and gave us a wave.

"Hey guys!" Harry greeted. "Is Roxanne as excited as Albus is to be starting at Hogwarts?"

"Dad!" Albus whispered embarrassedly while blushing. "I'm not _that_ excited for school..."

Fred laughed beside me. "Don't worry, Al. Hogwarts were the best years of my life! It's okay to be excited."

Albus gave us a relieved grin before hurrying off to find his brother James.

"So, er, Harry," Fred tried casually. "Angie here wouldn't allow me to give the kids the map again, so I think it's your kids' turn to have a go at it."

"I don't know," Harry said doubtfully. "I'm not sure I want James wandering the castle at night more than he already does. Why don't we give it to Ron's kid? I'm sure Rose would like it..."

"Hermione would kill you!" I objected. "There's no way she would encourage breaking the rules!"

"How about we give it to Malfoy's kid?" Fred grinned maliciously. "Then maybe little Scorpius would-"

"Ahem," I cleared my throat pointedly, glaring at my husband. "You know as well as I do that Draco is still a sore spot to Hermione."

"It's not her fault Draco's father cursed his bloodline, forbidding anyone but a pureblood to be with a Malfoy heir," Harry said defensively.

"Yeah, but she's still upset about Malfoy's wife, Astoria," I said quietly. "I know it was just a marriage of convenience and that an heir was required but she still has mixed feelings about the subject."

"Alright," Harry sighed. "Maybe I'll just give the map to Albus," Harry said, grabbing the Marauders' Map from Fred's hands.

"Thanks, mate. Better hide this before Ginny sees this and-"

"Before I see what?" Ginny asked as she approached us with her eyebrows raised. "You better hope you're not hiding something from me!" Fred and Harry stared down at their feet, unable to meet her gaze.

"Angelina?" Ginny asked as she crossed her arms. "What are my husband and brother not telling me?"

I raised my hands up in defense. "Don't drag me into this! I'm just an innocent bystander!" I started to walk away but not before whispering in Ginny's ear.

"Check Harry's back pocket," I whispered with a giggle. "I'm off to find Hermione," I addressed the entire group. "Let me know if you see her!"

I walked down the platform; weaving through wizarding families. It wasn't until I practically reached the end of the platform before I spotted Hermione.

"Hermione!" I called. She turned from fixing Rose's hair and waved.

"Why don't you go run off and find Albus, dear?" Hermione suggested to her daughter. "I need to talk to Aunt Angie for a second."

Rose smiled happily and bounded away in search for her cousin.

"Have you seen him, yet?" Hermione whispered urgently, glancing over her shoulder.

"Who, Ron?" I asked, also looking over my shoulder. "I would've thought he came here with you and-"

"No!" Hermione cut in. "Not Ron! _Draco!"_

My eyebrows shot to my hairline. "Ohhh," I quickly looked around the station. "Nope, haven't seen him either." I glanced uneasily to her. "You don't still... I mean... you're not..." I trailed off uncomfortably, hoping she was getting my hint.

It took a moment before Hermione's eyes lit up in understanding. "Oh, Merlin no!" she shook her head furiously. "I love Ron and have always been faithful to him! It's just that, well, I haven't seen Draco since the breakup sixteen years ago and..." she cleared her throat. "It's just been a while, you know?"

"Well, don't look now but I see a family of blonde heading our way..."

Hermione's head spun around before snapping back to me with a shriek. "Don't leave me, Angelina!" she whispered under her breath. "I swear to Merlin if you leave me alone with him I will make you regret the day you were born!"

"Easy there, tiger," I laughed. "I'm not gonna miss the show." I shot her a wink and she rolled her eyes as Draco approached us with his family.

"Hey, Malfoy," I greeted warmly.

"Johnson," Draco said with a nod in my direction. "Hello, Hermione," he grabbed her hand and placed a quick kiss to the back of it.

Hermione cheeks flamed red and she glanced at me for help.

"I'm actually a Weasley now, Malfoy," I said with a smirk. "Are you going to introduce us to the rest of your family or am I going to have to do it myself?"

"My apologies, _Weasley,"_ he sneered, putting extra emphasis on my name. "This is my wife, Astoria, and my son, Scorpius."

"Nice to meet you, Astoria," I smiled and shook her hand. "My name's Angelina. My husband, George, is over there with my son, Fred, and my daughter, Roxanne."

"Angelina," Astoria smiled. "What a beautiful name! This is Scorpius's first year at Hogwarts so would you mind if I introduced him to your children? That way he'll at least know somebody!" she laughed.

"I- er-" I stuttered, glancing at Hermione's pleading eyes. "How about in a little bit?"

"Nonsense!" Astoria said as she grabbed my arm, pulling me away from Hermione and Draco. "The train will be leaving in a few minutes so we have no time to waste!"

I could do nothing to argue and silently apologized to Hermione for abandoning her.

"Sorry I had to be so aggressive," Astoria said softly once we were out of earshot from the two. "Draco requested I give him five minutes alone to talk with Hermione, and you Gryffindors are just so stubborn!" she gave a little laugh before glancing back to her husband and Hermione.

"It's fine," I shrugged. "I understand. But let's still introduce our children, shall we?" The three of us walked over to my family where introductions were to be held.

"You look wonderful," Draco said to Hermione down the platform. "You look happy."

Hermione blushed. "The same to you. Your son is the spitting image of you."

Draco let out a hearty laugh. "Let's hope he doesn't have the same attitude that I had at his age! I was quite the pompous little twit, wasn't I?"

Hermione giggled. "Yes, you definitely were. It wasn't until your fifth year before someone had the courage and skill to calm you down..." her eyes twinkled as she made this statement.

"Let's just say she had a lasting effect on me," he said sincerely. "Do you... ever... still wonder...?"

Hermione nodded. "I wonder all the time. Less often now though, I must admit. But I love Ron, and I'm happy with him."

Draco shifted uneasily. "So would now be a bad time to mention that I named my son after that scorpion you conjured in my manor to escape my aunt?"

Hermione smiled. "I named my daughter after the rose you gave me in your garden."

Draco's eyes widened before he smirked. "Pulling a fast one on the Weasel? How very Slytherin of you..."

Hermione laughed. "In my defense, he requested our daughter be named after a flower in honor of his first love, Pansy. Who was I to not take that opportunity and use it for my own will?"

"What about your son?" Draco asked curiously. "Hugo, is it? Unless you were going for huge in a reference to-"

"No!" Hermione cut in. "Hugo means mind, spirit and heart. Hopefully, Hugo will inherit my mind, Ron's heart and both of our Gryffindor spirit," she smiled triumphantly.

"Blechhh," Draco stuck out his tongue in a child-like manor. "How very noble of you."

Hermione shrugged. "I think by the time Ron and I had Hugo, we were over our past romances."

"But hopefully not forgetful of them, hmm?" Draco said pointedly. "In my mind, you're still pretty little Hermione Granger who-"

"Weasley," she reminded him. "That's my name now."

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," Draco smirked.

"Quoting Muggle literature out loud?" Hermione smiled. "It looks like I did having a lasting effect on you..."

Draco's response was cut off as someone tugged urgently on Hermione's skirt.

"Aunt Mione!" Lily Potter cried with tears in her eyes. "Where's my dad? I lost him and-" she choked back a sob, "-he left me all alone!" Tears poured down her face as she sobbed again.

"Oh, Lily," Hermione soothed, reaching down to pick the young girl up. "Don't worry, you're okay now; we'll find him."

"Potter's kid?" Draco asked as they walked down the platform. Hermione nodded.

"Where'd she get the ginger hair from? Cho has black hair...?" his forehead scrunched up in confusion.

"Harry married Ginny," Hermione said. "Cho left him around the same time we broke up because Harry caught her with Viktor Krum," she shrugged. "I guess she just wanted to be with all the male Tri-Wizard Champions or really has a thing for seekers. Last I heard, she went off and married some muggle. It's all the better though, because Ginny and Harry are happily married with three kids."

They walked in a comfortable silence down the platform, Lily still wrapped tightly in Hermione's arms.

"Well," Draco turned suddenly. "I really better head off and find Astoria. It's good seeing you again."

"You, too," Hermione smiled softly. "I'm glad to see things have been working out for you."

Draco grinned. "It surely wasn't what I had planned for my life, but I'm happy."

Hermione set Lily down as the young girl spotted her father a few people away. "After all, you can't discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."

_**THE END**_

**Author's Note:**

First off, I can't believe it's over. Wow. The responses to this story have been great and I love every single one of you that reviewed, set it for alerts, or for favorite story/author! You guys are amazing!

Secondly, I know a lot of you are probably ready to hex my body into tiny little pieces for the epilogue and all the deaths. However, no matter how much I fell in love with the relationships that formed and the characters I wrote about, I wanted the story to end that same way the original did. Keeping that in mind, I realized I would have to kill off Annabelle Louise, the character I created. I also didn't want George to have to live with the death of his girlfriend _and_ his twin brother, so I decided to kill him off, much like a Romeo and Juliet fashion. So besides Fred living instead of George, every thing is canon. Yet _technically, _"George" did live, so I'm not too far from the original. Also, as you could see with the pairings I created in my story, the people JK Rowling paired together were not my first pick. This story, in a way, was an alternative explanation of why everything ended up the way it did. I really hope you enjoyed this story, and considering that it is officially over, _please _leave me a review. It is the first fanfiction story I've written and I really want to know what people thought! Share it around and spread the word! Hopefully all my faithful readers will stick with me to my next story, which I will start posting very soon! Thanks for reading!


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